Fan's Eye View ~ At What Lengths A Teammate11/7/2014 |
Last weekend after a rather exciting finish of the Cup
Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, we all, or at least those of us who were
watching, saw the fracas which ensued following the checkered flag. Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon were at odds
over an incident on the track which could very well cost Gordon a chance at his
fifth Sprint Cup Series Championship.
There was an exchange of words, and then it seemed to calm a bit, when
push literally came to shove, and Keselowski was injected into what became a
full on donnybrook, complete with punches thrown, bodies flailing, lips
bloodied, and prides injured. Thank you,
Kevin Harvick. Easily visible on the television was Kevin Harvick coming up
from behind Brad Keselowski and pushing him into the throng of outstretched
arms designed to keep one another at bay.
That may have looked like Keselowski was attacking, and the resulting
melee was sparked. One question I have
heard over and over again is: “Why would Harvick get involved?” There were many responses, most of them one word, some of
them suitable for print, some not so much.
Those that were suitable ranged from “Instigator” (Which I want to put on
the market as alligator meat which can be eaten anywhere as long as there is a
hot water source, like Cup O’Noodles…but this is Insta-Gator! Mmm Mmm Good.) to “Hot Head” to
“Busy Body” to “Bully.” However, one of the most interesting ones I heard was “teammate.” Well, slow down there, cow poke. The last time I looked at the team chart,
Jeff Gordon’s Hendrick (not Hendricks) teammates were Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
(Insert crazy crowd noise), Kasey Kahne (young girls shriek), and Jimmie
Johnson (boos resound, but for no real reason other than he wins too
much). Kevin Harvick’s
teammates over at Stewart-Haas (not Hass) are name sake of the team, Tony
Stewart, Kurt Busch, and Danica Patrick. None of these things are quite like the other ones. Not really…until you dig deeper. A driver can probably find all kinds of friends in the
garage. None of them of the real close, best,
or even true variety, to be sure, because, as we have seen, a driver would dump
another if he can get to the rear bumper on the last lap to take the win. That’s documented multiple times in the
history of the sport. And, we have even
seen team mates knock each other out of the way, which is what should happen,
since we the fans have always claimed, while pointing our own questionable
background hands at Formula 1, that there are no “team orders” in NASCAR. (How’s that poison ivy, Clint?) Perhaps the first kind of team mate, other than two or more
drivers piloting cars for the same team owner, is the “friend teammate.” Examples? Oh, sure.
How about Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart, who drafted together so
well in the mid 2000’s that when Earnhardt announced he was leaving DEI, many
thought he was going to end up at Joe Gibbs Racing with Stewart. I won’t leave out one of my favorite Dale
Earnhardt, Sr. moments, either. I’m not
quite sure of the year, but I’m going to say it was 1991, but I know it was the
Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono.
Rusty Wallace was in the lead late in the race and the rain was
coming. Instead of pitting, The Miller
Genuine Draft No. 2 Pontiac team stayed out, though light on fuel. The rain did come, and the caution came
out. Wallace elected to stay out still,
and the caution laps ticked off, one by one, and the fuel in Wallace’s car
waned. Dale Earnhardt, who was a few laps down due to an accident on the front
stretch earlier in the day, was in line behind Wallace on the caution
laps. Wallace shut off his engine to
conserve fuel, and for the next few rainy laps, Earnhardt pushed Wallace around
the track. Now, NASCAR had issued a
statement that the race would end after 179 of the scheduled 200 laps, and
rules dictate that a driver must complete the final lap with no assistance to
be scored for the finish. So, at the end
of lap 178, Earnhardt gave Rusty one final push and then backed off. Wallace fired the engine, and for the next
two and one-half minutes, rolled around the flat Pocono triangle until he took
the checkered flag at a nice calm 60 miles per hour, thank you very much. At the time, Wallace was in his initial
season with Penske, and Earnhardt was driving for, of course, RCR. Friend teammates. Back in the early 1990’s when Hoosier tires were an option
for drivers to use each week instead of Goodyear, there may have been Tire
Teammates, when a Hoosier driver would go out of his way to help a Hoosier
driver or hinder a Goodyear driver, and vice versa. I’m sure we all know about Manufacturer
Teammates. Wasn’t it just a few years
ago when Jack Roush ordered one of his Ford drivers not to help any driver but
a Ford at a restrictor plate race? We
also saw at Talladega this year in that ridiculous farce of qualifying where
all of the manufacturing brands were going to go out together, but then still
couldn’t figure out how to get most of them to turn a lap before the time
expired? Partnership Teammates? What about
parts and chassis..seses..? If a driver gets his engines or maybe the
chassis, or even both from a car owner for which he does not drive, is there a
loyalty expected or preferred between the two parties, meaning the driver and
an opposing car owner’s drivers? Let’s go back to Kevin Harvick and his “support” of Jeff
Gordon in the Brad Keselowski situation.
What do Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have in
common which may pull one to the side in support of the other? Well, they are Manufacturer Teammates, as both drive the
Chevy SS on the Cup Series circuit. They
are Partnership Teammates as well, as Harvick’s Stewart-Haas
Racing is a satellite team of Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports. This makes them not official team mates, of
course, and by process of elimination, they are Tire Teammates. Maybe, though…maybe there’s just one more little
thing. That one little thing, if that be truly the case, is 2012
Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski himself.
We all know that Gordon seemed to have a problem with Keselowski after
Texas, but from where does Harvick’s animosity stem? Harvick said it himself. He told Keselowski if he’s going to race that
way, he needs to fight his own battles.
Back up two weeks to Charlotte when Keselowski used his car as a weapon
against Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin, and cool calm Matt Kenseth got so
angered he chased down and tackled Bad Brad who was walking between the
haulers. Inadvertently caught up in the
on track melee was Tony Stewart. Yes,
that Tony Stewart, who is indeed Kevin Harvick’s car
owner, but perhaps more importantly, teammate, in the truest sense of the word,
and he was trying to get some retribution on Keselowski for his teammate.
Keep your friends close, right?
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