What happened: NASCAR’s penalty report from Las Vegas Motor Speedway contained no penalties of any kind for Kyle Busch, Joey Logano or any of their crew members following Sunday’s pit road fight.
What it means: Angry drivers are allowed to punch someone after a race, and NASCAR is going to embrace that emotion. If that seems like a change from recent years, welcome to the Monster Energy Era. Mixing it up on and off the track is exactly what the series sponsor wants, and apparently even fights are fair game. It’s nice to see NASCAR didn’t act in a hypocritical fashion and fine Busch while profiting from the publicity and using it to promote upcoming races.
News value (scale of 1-10): Six. It’s above average news for the reason it might set a new precedent for how NASCAR will react to such altercations.
Questions: How far can a driver go before getting penalized now? If Busch had injured Logano, would the situation be different? Should Busch get a gift card or something for all the attention he got for NASCAR this week?
Here’s a slo-mo version of the video if you want to break it down frame-by-frame:
Seems like NASCAR has given up on emulating the NFL and has decided to mimic the NHL. In fact, NASCAR, Hockey and the theater are the only three entertainment venues I can think of that are divided into three parts… Stages, Periods and Acts
I wonder how the sponsors will react going forward. If NASCAR doesn’t do anything with future scuffles, it may be that sponsors won’t want to have anything to do with drivers using violent means to settle differences and decide to take their own actions. Possibly up to and including leaving the sport, ala NAPA Auto Parts and the Clint Bowyer affair. (Although, admittedly that was much more severe in nature.)
Maybe it will go from “Actions detrimental to the sport” to “Actions detrimental to the sponsors”!
Ted, you make some valid points. Will Moms keep their kids away from M&M’s because of the violence they could cause?
Your example of NAPA is interesting. I admire whoever is making their marketing decisions.
***Left Michael Waltrip and his corrupt sinking ship for this rookie Elliott kid who wins the 2016 Rookie of the year. Just for good measure Chase won the Daytona Pole in both 2016 and 2017.
***Sponsor an Indy rookie driver, Alex Rossi for a small team owned Bryan Herta and then Rossi wins the 100th Indy 500 and Rookie of the race.
***Finally, sponsor one of the nicest guys in racing, Ron Capps and he wins his 1st NHRA Funny Car Championship.
2016 was a banner year for NAPA.
NASCAR is such a sponsor driven sport, I’ve always figured that the sponsors will ultimately take care of problems themselves. If it’s to be believed, Mars nearly left JGR and Busch over him wrecking Hornaday several years ago as the final straw.
NAPA took their opportunity to explore other options and found one they thought was better and took it. Kudos to them. MWR was never going to be a legitimate championship contender. Just not enough financial depth.
It always bothered me how everyone walked away from that deal without a problem, except Truex. He was the only one really penalized. Penalties to Bowyer and Vickers were meaningless (in Bowyer’s case they were eliminated when the points reset for the Chase). NAPA leaves for greener pastures. Kaufman creates the charter system and cashes out his ownership. So I love seeing Truex run as well as he has at Furniture Row.
NASCAR needs a little drama as long as it doesn’t get out of hand . Racing hasn’t been that good ,but still a fan of NASCAR.
What seems to be lost in this whole thing is that everyone is talking about the seriousness of concussions (Dale Jr) nowadays and here you have two instances where either driver could’ve had one. Typical – Reactive rather than Proactive.
I think Bird Lancaster should get a prize or raise for best person to break up a fight.
Nascar is loosing control.to let bush get awaywith not only going after lagono but also the officials. They are totatily loosing any and all control. The bit with the races broke down into segments has anyone ever seen that done?we need to take this sport back to where it us to be. You can see why Mr Hendrick got rid of busch He is a disgrace.
I am not a fan of either driver, but it was inconclusive that Busch mad contact one. They were split up immediately. However Busch continued to resist the intervention of cooler heads then the restrainers became violent and POSSIBLY, due to the fact it’s inconclusive because we weren’t at the bottom of the scrum, Busch was assulted. Or maybe it he just bumped his head when his gravity brought people to the ground. Not advocating for Mr. Busch, but the video tape needs to be looked at when it comes to the crew members. Just my opinion. If nothing happens fine, boys will be boys. However young boys imitate grown “boys” all the time, is that a message you want to send to the family?
I am not a fan of either driver, but it was inconclusive that Busch made contact. They were split up immediately. However Busch continued to resist the intervention of “cooler” heads then the restrainers became violent and POSSIBLY, due to the fact it’s inconclusive because we weren’t at the bottom of the scrum, Busch was assaulted. Or maybe it he just bumped his head when his gravity brought people to the ground. Not advocating for Mr. Busch, but the video tape needs to be looked at when it comes to the crew members. Just my opinion. If nothing happens fine, boys will be boys. However young boys imitate grown “boys” all the time, is that a message you want to send to the family?
NASCAR is on desperate mode. They need stop the slumping attendance and TV views, so this pit brawl seems an gold oportunity to give more atention to the sport.
In a big picture view, is a poor decision with eventually sponsors aftermaths.
I have mixed thoughts on the incident. While I would rather see the drivers settle their differences on the track, this is a very emotional sport and sometimes fights are going to happen. Not a fan of either driver, but it’s good to see that some drivers still aren’t afraid to mix it up, whether their side of the story is right or wrong. Sponsors should know the nature of the sport before they agree to sign on, and should really not be surprised when things like this happen. Honestly, I’m surprised at the response from M&M’s and Mars, being that they have been in the sport for such a long time. You would think they would understand. Drivers shouldn’t be fighting every week, but a good scrap every once in a while never hurt anyone.
I am sure the Mars family response to his unprovoked attack had some bearing on the process..$$$$$$. He has been on this slippery slope with them before and they seem eager for one more screw up and buh-bye Baby Kyle and Jesus Joe!