NASCAR race.

Any body watch the race last night at Charlotte ? The after race shenanigans haven't been seen in a long time.

Fisticuffs?

I didn't see the end of the race, but from what I've been told, the winner forgot to mention one of his sponsors in a post-race interview.

Looks like the driver is facing a six-week suspension, and his crew-chief will be castrated.

Yes, but do you consider it "racing"?

it was a decent race, but a certain former champion named Brad Keselowski decided that he needed to act like a 12 year old girl with anger management issues after the race had ended... it was enough to get himself put into a chokehold by one of the most calm and levelheaded people on the track- former champion Matt Kenseth, who apparently didn't like having his car plowed into at a fairly high speed on pit road after the race when he had his belts and Hans device off and window net down. at least we saw that Tony Stewart still had a bit of fire in him when he backed his car into Brad's car after getting rearended in the same incident where Kenseth got hit. Brad also backed his car into Danica's car in that incident, so yeah, he was getting in some quality demo derby time immediately after the race.

and that's leaving out the stuff with Denny Hamlin..

it's the kind of stuff that got Kyle Busch parked for the last few races of the season a few years ago after what he did to Ron Hornaday during a caution in a truck race.

the worst part, tho, wasn't the stuff that happened in the cars or the fight afterwords- the worst part was how Brad Keselowski had the nerve to mention his sponsor as the very first thing out of his mouth followed by blaming everyone else for his stupidity once a camera was finally stuck in his face..

next week is Talledega, where Brad K went for one hell of a ride a few years back after getting on Carl Edward's last nerve... he's got at least 5 teams that are out to get him next week, so maybe it would be best for everyone if NASCAR forced him to sit that one out..

One would think thay after the Stewart/Ward awfulness and Bianchi's wreck recently, that most everyone in motorsports would realize how much energy and how much damage a car can do, and respect that power... Hitting someone on pit road on purpose should be enough to sit them for the rest of this season and most of next. That goes for Keselowski, Stewart and anyone else that purposefully initiated contact.

I undertand the red mist and that tempers flare but that all was just completely moronic and undisciplined stupidity.

Agreed. I don't follow NASCAR at all (I was too busy watching an excellent rate at Bathurst to watch this anyhow), but that Keselowski is a dangerous idiot.

gotta give Brad credit for one thing: he doesn't send in his daddy to fight for him whenever he feels like he was wronged any more.. so that's something... i guess..

Frustration can cause all sorts of problems.

so can immaturity and thinking that you are more deserving of breaks on the track than everyone else..

My opinion? Penske is not amused.

The unfortunate part of all this is that the news channels have made this a "Tony Stewart" story, almost ignoring that it's really about Keselowski and his antics.

best comment I've seen:

Brat Krashlousy

Here's an interesting question...

Had the incidents not happened, would you be paying attention more or less to the NASCAR racing series?

Based on what I've read about interest and the falling ticket sales, IMHO, that's an important question- including to the root of why it happened.

alfadriver wrote: Here's an interesting question... Had the incidents not happened, would you be paying attention more or less to the NASCAR racing series? Based on what I've read about interest and the falling ticket sales, IMHO, that's an important question- including to the root of why it happened.

I've had an interest in NASCAR for over 50 years, so yes I would watch it. MY interest has not one thing to do with the "incidents" or accidents. I like many forms of racing. My favorite is F1 as it has been for approx. 50 years now.

I found the incidents Sat. night disgusting. Destroying race cars intentionally should and COULD be stopped if NASCAR wanted to do it.

IMHO NASCAR severely damaged their brand by dominating the air play of Speed Channel. I began to watch the channel very little during that era. Of course now the public has less money to spend on unnesessary to basic existence.

In reply to Graefin10:

My point more is that had there not been an incident at all, this whole thread would not exist. People would not be off to ESPN's site to see the replay of what happened.

IMHO, it's not about the long time racing fans, but the fringe ones that they may be losing. But at the risk (based on your post) losing long time fans like you.

To me- driving like they do is incredibly hard, and they are very, very talented drivers. But I don't watch it. Seen too many races that were 95% of getting to the last 5%, where everything fell apart as people pushed their way to win.

alfadriver wrote: Here's an interesting question... Had the incidents not happened, would you be paying attention more or less to the NASCAR racing series? Based on what I've read about interest and the falling ticket sales, IMHO, that's an important question- including to the root of why it happened.

Staged reality shows are so popular this shenanigans does not surprise me to bump up the lame chase. What makes me upset is that I am a race fan, and I don't like to mention it. If I do I a immediately am a NASCAR fan eve-though I don't care for it.

alfadriver wrote: Here's an interesting question... Had the incidents not happened, would you be paying attention more or less to the NASCAR racing series? Based on what I've read about interest and the falling ticket sales, IMHO, that's an important question- including to the root of why it happened.

I'm more aware of this race than I have been of any NASCAR race in the last year, but it's not making me want to watch it any more than before. Less if anything. Especially if Brat gets off scott-free. I'll check back in a few weeks.

They need to stop acting like Bob Costas.

trigun7469 wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Here's an interesting question... Had the incidents not happened, would you be paying attention more or less to the NASCAR racing series? Based on what I've read about interest and the falling ticket sales, IMHO, that's an important question- including to the root of why it happened.

Staged reality shows are so popular this shenanigans does not surprise me to bump up the lame chase. What makes me upset is that I am a race fan, and I don't like to mention it. If I do I a immediately am a NASCAR fan eve-though I don't care for it.

I've said for years that NASCAR is scripted.

In reply to slefain:

Even if not scripted, it is to the point where events like this are encouraged.

NASCAR doesn't care about the fights in the infield.. what they do care about is using the cars as weapons after the race is over- they have come down hard on people for making pit lane into a demo derby after the race before... Brad was bouncing his car off other cars- and even sent a transmission that a team had setting next to their hauler flying across the ground when he hit it- as he made his way thru the garage area. there are not only team members, but "civilians" in that area during the race.. just think of the PR if a cancer survivor or veteran that was hanging with a team for the race was hit by a car or transmission or whatever after the race..

no way it's scripted … regardless of how it looks

WAY too many people involved that if scripted, someone would have outed them by know …

when you consider the egos involved, there's no way all the drivers/crew members/owners would ever agree to it

the part I would/do believe is that the PTB can and do wield the discipline stick anyway they want … attempting to produce the results that serve themselves best

Keselowski should be kicked out of the series for the remainder of the year. There is no excuse for the way he acted--- especially in light of recent events. I'm not so sure NASCAR is ready to give up the "boys will be boys" WWE-type mantra though. The pointless fights and after-race drama seem to appeal to it's main demographic--- which is really disheartening after the Ward / Steward incident.

I guess learning from your mistakes is anti-Merikan.