NASCAR retaliation tactics have gone too far

Following a smash-up derby in Martinsville, Sprint Cup contender Tony Stewart has called for modifications to NASCAR’s ‘boys have at it’ policy, saying it’s time drivers started punching on.

Stewart won the Martinsville race as chaos erupted behind him and says the retaliation tactics have gone too far.

“NASCAR is going to have to at some point make these drivers be responsible for their actions amongst each other and not baby sit and not protect these guys,” Stewart said.

“Let them get their butt kicked. That’s what used to happen in the old days. You didn’t have guys dumping each other and taking cheap shots like that.

“When Dale Sr. was here and Dale Jarrett, you just didn’t do that because that guy would come grab you, pull you out of the car at the end of the practice session, rip your head off talking to you about it, intimidate you into understanding why you didn’t do that.

“I think they ought to get a portable boxing ring.

“As soon as they get done with the victory celebration, set the boxing ring on the front stretch, give the fans a real show they paid for.

“If you want to boost the attendance at Martinsville, have a boxing match with each of the guys that had a beef with each other.

“Now there’s nothing. You can go yell at a guy. We watched Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick yell at each other after Saturday’s practice. What did they accomplish? Did it make anybody understand what the other guy was thinking or saying? They yelled at each other, walked away, nothing was different than before it happened. There’s nothing different to make these guys do anything other than what’s in their head. There’s always two sides to a story.”

Stewart is not an innocent when it comes to on-track pay backs, but says his team owner has helped him to see the light.

“I used to be as guilty of it and bad as anybody about taking a cheap shot at guys early,” Stewart said. “But you realize that it’s not about the two guys driving the cars out there as much as it’s there’s a bunch of guys that go back to the shop.

“There’s a car owner that spends a lot of money. There’s a bunch of crew guys that spend a lot of hours and put a lot of heart and soul into what we have as a product each week with these race cars. I think at times we all forget about that.”

As for a method of on-track etiquette, Smoke says he demonstrated how to do it at Martinsville.

“I got underneath him in a spot where he was already coming down,” Stewart said.

“I screwed up, he got sideways. I just checked up and let him have his spot back. I never saw anybody give anybody a spot back in a situation like that today. It wasn’t his fault.

“I think later after that I got back by Allmendinger and instead of dumping me like the other guys were doing to each other, I think he knew I gave him that spot back because I knew I made a mistake.”

Stewart is second in the Sprint Cup standings behind Carl Edwards with three races remaining in the season.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings

by Buford Balony