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DESPAIN: Is It Over?
Once NASCAR’s appeal board rules on Clint Bowyer’s 150-point penalty, this key question will remain: Is the Dover mini-drama over?...
Dave Despain  |  Posted September 28, 2010   Charlotte NC
Dave Despain, the popular host of Wind Tunnel on SPEED. (Image: SPEED)
Once NASCAR’s appeal board rules on Clint Bowyer’s 150-point New Hampshire penalty, this key question will remain: Is the Dover mini-drama over? Will Denny Hamlin and assorted members of Richard Childress Racing move beyond their outspoken conflict and focus on the job at hand (after all these years that job is unchanged - find a way to deal with Jimmie Johnson) or will emotions unleashed at The Monster Mile rage on, potentially affecting the Chase fortunes of several key drivers?

I’d bet on the former. Surely the stars in this little soap opera are smart enough to keep their eye on the ball. And don’t these little racing flare-ups more often burn themselves out than erupt into wildfires? But there are exceptions. Memories of Edwards-versus- Keselowski are fresh and let’s not forget the role Hamlin played in that story. “Have at it, boys” is still the law of the land so there are reasons to keep the fire extinguishers close at hand.

For example, it remains to be seen whether Hamlin learned last weekend’s obvious lesson; use good judgment when picking fights. In an hours-long stock car contest, drivers must constantly decide who to race and how hard to race them. Great drivers learn to make the moves that will gain them the most while risking the least.

At Dover Hamlin risked a lot to gain a little. In defending his team against Bowyer’s vague New Hampshire question of the legality of the cars that had won the most races this year – Hamlin’s and Johnson’s – Denny took a low-percentage, high-risk shot. He dramatically escalated a war of words, triggering a media frenzy. He boldly called out RCR and thus fired up perhaps the most combative team in NASCAR, three members of which he must defeat in order to be champion. In fact, he so enraged that organization that its single most combative member went out and bent up Hamlin’s car before practice ever got going at Dover. Have at it, indeed!

Dale Earnhardt’s tough guy mentality is still part of the RCR DNA (remember how Harvick became a Cup driver in the first place) and the “band of brothers” motivation that kicked in when Hamlin ran his mouth won’t just go away, not with team owner Richard Childress serving up sound bites about “a pissing contest with a skunk.” True, there was no further RCR retaliation against Hamlin at Dover, but to harm another driver, one must first catch him. Among the Childress trio, only the No. 31 was able to get to Hamlin Sunday at Dover and no one expects a cheap shot from the always-classy and diplomatic Jeff Burton. Still, with eight races remaining there will be plenty more opportunities for selected “boys” to “have at it” if they choose.

Again, my guess is that the red mist has passed and there will be new storylines to feed the media mill as the Chase rolls on. But there is one other intriguing possibility to consider here. Prior to this run-in with Hamlin, Harvick has had an ongoing conflict with Hamlin’s young teammate Joey Logano. I’m not trying to stir this pot - honest, I’m not - but wouldn’t it be interesting if, at some point, the third member of Joe Gibbs Racing got a big jolt of esprit de corps and decided he should jump into this fray, hurling sound bites and flailing fenders in defense of his comrades? Hmmmmm … even the bad boys at RCR might not be prepared for the full fury of Kyle Busch unleashed!

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