NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Why Have Drivers Been So Tame In 2012?
The first five races of 2012 have been bereft of any major blowups between NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitors...
Jeff Owens  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted March 28, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Matt Kenseth is the 2003 Sprint Cup champion. (Photo: Getty Images)
Matt Kenseth had a right to be ticked off when he arrived at Bristol Motor Speedway a few weeks ago.

There in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage was Brian Vickers, the driver who ended Kenseth’s championship hopes in 2011.

Kenseth was in championship contention, battling heavyweights Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, late last year when Vickers angrily took him out at Martinsville Speedway. Incensed at being roughed up during an earlier incident, Vickers retaliated, sending Kenseth crashing into the wall.

And into oblivion.

The wreck knocked Kenseth out of the race and severely damaged his hopes in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

When Vickers did it again the following week at Phoenix, intentionally wrecking him a second time, Kenseth was done – out of championship contention and destined to finish fourth in the final standings, 73 points behind Stewart and Edwards.

Vickers – who also retaliated against Stewart at Infineon Raceway last year – had no ride to start the 2012 season after his Red Bull Racing team shut down. But there he was at Bristol, having struck a six-race deal with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Kenseth should have been perturbed by Vickers presence and out for revenge for what he did to him in 2011. After all, that is the way of the world in NASCAR – a fender for a fender.

But Kenseth, one of NASCAR’s more mild-mannered drivers, had no thoughts of retaliation at Bristol. He and Kenseth even raced door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper at times, with Kenseth finishing second and Vickers fifth in what was a clean race for Bristol.

“I think we are fine,” Kenseth said prior to the race. “I don’t foresee any trouble coming up, but I didn’t foresee it the first time either. I think everything is fine and you put that in the rearview mirror and move on.”

What in the name of Dale Earnhardt is wrong with these guys?

Where’s the vigilante justice that has ruled the sport in recent years during NASCAR’s ‘boys, have at it” era?

Where’s Jeff Gordon taking a swing at Jeff Burton in Turn 4 at Texas?

Where’s Kevin Harvick trying to crawl into Kyle Busch’s car window at Darlington?

Where’s Richard Childress taking off his jewelry to slug Busch at Kansas?

A year ago, NASCAR had already had three dust-ups by now, including Vickers barking at Kenseth for running into him in the first race at Phoenix, an incident that might have been a precursor to their October showdown.

Three races into the season last year, there were battery charges already filed, with Kevin Conway calling police on Robby Gordon after a scuffle in the Las Vegas garage.

This year, there’s been nary a harsh word spoken.

With all the crashes that took place at Daytona, not a single driver ripped a fellow competitor or intentionally ran into another car.

Even at Bristol, the track where tempers flare and helmets (among other things) are often thrown, there were no repercussions from an early seven-car crash and a measly five caution flags.

So what gives?

Why are NASCAR’s top drivers suddenly on their best behavior like they’re still adjusting to kindergarten?

Is it merely coincidence or is there some other force at work?

Maybe NASCAR threw water on its “boys have at it” scheme when it suspended Kyle Busch for retaliating in November at Texas.

Busch was involved in the biggest and most intriguing feud in years last season when he locked horns with Harvick. The ugliness (or beauty, depending on your perspective) started early in the season and stayed red hot all year.

It reached a fever pitch in June when Childress, Harvick’s team owner, punched Busch while in the garage at Kansas, finishing the job Harvick started at Darlington in May.

Insults continued to be hurled and sheet metal dented until the feud finally blew up at Texas Motor Speedway.

After Busch retaliated by wrecking Harvick driver Ron Hornaday in the NASCAR Truck race, NASCAR parked Busch for the rest of the weekend, forcing him to miss the Cup race with just three races left in the season.

Though Busch’s Chase hopes already were over, the suspension relegated him to a last-place finish in the Chase and got him in hot water with his team and sponsors.

Maybe NASCAR’s swift and stern action doused the whole “boys have it at” routine and sent a message to competitors to cool it.

Harvick tried to reignite things prior to this season, saying that Busch is “such a jerk” and “he’s really the only guy in the sport that I just don’t like.” But, so far, Busch has not taken the bait.

No one, it seems, has any scores to settle this season.

So far.

That could change this weekend at Martinsville, a track that fosters beating and banging and typically causes tempers to flare.

Kenseth and Vickers are both in the field, with Vickers returning to the scene of the crime for his second race with MWR.

Will Kenseth let him off easily again, or will he attempt to enact justice for Vickers’ past indiscretions?

NASCAR seems due for a major blow-up.

It’s been five races already.
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Jeff Owens

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