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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Helton - Maintaining Order Is NASCAR’s Job
The way NASCAR President Mike Helton talks it will draw at least somewhat of a line when rivalries turn into retaliatory moves on the track...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted November 28, 2009   Charlotte, NC
NASCAR president Mike Helton said that rivalries can't be labeled as good or bad, but are a natural part of sports. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

NASCAR wants its drivers to show emotions and be themselves but the way NASCAR President Mike Helton talks, it will draw at least somewhat of a line when that obviously turns into retaliatory moves on the track that come outside the heat of the moment.

Helton talked about rivalries and what’s acceptable on the race track prior to the Nationwide and Truck series banquet last week in Miami Beach.

“With people who are competing against each other, whether it’s on a stick-and-ball field or a race track, they’re going to have conflicts and there are going to be moments,” Helton said. “That’s just natural in sports, and it’s always been natural in NASCAR.”

It also has got to be somewhat natural for NASCAR to get involved. JGR Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s Juan Pablo Montoya were penalized for their actions during races last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin had been saying for a week he was going to issue payback for JR Motorsports’ Brad Keselowski in the Nationwide race, while Montoya retaliated against Stewart-Haas Racing’s Tony Stewart after spending 30 laps making repairs to his Sprint Cup car.

“[If] something happens in turns 1 and 2 and something else happens in turns 3 and 4 on the same lap, that’s the sport playing itself out,” Helton said. “If it’s 50 laps later, there’s a little more of buildup to retaliation. If it’s a week later, obviously there’s more buildup to retaliation.”

Hamlin was penalized one lap while Montoya was penalized two. Montoya’s move could have had an impact on the Cup championship if Stewart’s spin had collected Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson.

“What we’re searching for right now is to be fair but understanding and tolerant and allowing the sport to have emotion in it because it’s going to have [that] and we have to recognize that,” Helton said. “Our responsibility is to maintain law and order. Maintaining law is different than maintaining order. When you have rivalries on the race track of drivers playing out their emotions in the unfolding of the game or the unfolding of the race, that’s order.

“You have to maintain order because the other guys on the race track don’t want to get caught up in it. You try to be sure that everybody is confident and comfortable out there knowing that this rivalry going on isn’t going to have an impact on them. That plays a big role in our decision-making process on how to react to that.”

NASCAR had said a few years ago that it would try to be more lenient in allowing drivers to show their emotions.

“I don’t know that we got too corporate – we felt like and we believe we were doing the right thing at the moment to correct a direction and obviously it was to protect the character of NASCAR,” Helton said. “We didn’t certainly intend to make it too sterile, but if the drivers were afraid to be themselves, that’s not good.”

Helton said that drivers maybe are just now getting comfortable with the relaxed rules.

“Everything goes in cycles and whether or not it gets to the point where we think we have to do more than what we’re doing today, I don’t know,” Helton said. “We look at it differently today than three or four years ago.”

The rivalries can get toned down because drivers typically won’t get too out of hand for fear of angering their sponsors, Helton said. He also pointed to the nature of everyone traveling and virtually living together as giving them time to talk through their issues with one another.

“[Rivalries are] just a natural part of sports,” Helton said. “I wouldn’t label it as either good or bad but as a natural part of sports.”

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