[Ax Slinger]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
I'm much more apt to like a hardass who's honest about it (Stewart, Harvick) than someone who plays Mr. Good Guy, then takes cheap shots at the on-track competition

So in other words you're more likely to like a guy who'll wreck someone to win any old time, than someone who only does it once in awhile? I guess a driver's overall ability is irrelevant then? And that may be a good description of Harvick, but not Stewart. He's won races without roughing anyone up. In fact, I can't think of any races that he intentionally wrecked someone to win. I'm more apt to like someone with a little talent over someone who can't win without driving like that.

So I still say "So what?" if Gordon gets a little aggressive once in awhile. It ain't like he's a crowd of one in that respect. There are a lot of drivers who are far more aggressive than Gordon. But sadly for them, they just don't have Gordon's talent and driving ability.

But as far as you not remembering the Bristol '99 race, here's a little read for ya. It is of course, old news. But the story is so typical of NASCAR...

NASCAR slipped in clutch on Earnhardt no-call

BRISTOL, Tenn. - NASCAR swallowed the whistle. Sports officials have always been reluctant to make calls in the final moments of a contest, even if there's an apparently obvious infraction. That's what happened Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, when Dale Earnhardt spun Terry Labonte on the final lap and won the Goody's 500.

On a night when NASCAR officials had been particularly whistle-happy, their inaction on the Earnhardt-Labonte incident was conspicuous. On Lap 99, Jerry Nadeau had been penalized two laps for "aggressive driving" after hitting points leader Dale Jarrett's already damaged car. On Lap 411, Dave Marcis was docked one lap for "intentionally causing a caution" because NASCAR officials felt he stopped his car on the track despite having ample opportunity to get to pit road.

The implication was that Marcis was trying to get a yellow so Dale Earnhardt -- whose car owner, Richard Childress, has often provided Marcis with support for his racing -- could make a pit stop under caution. The truth is since Earnhardt was pitting on the backstretch, a green-flag stop would have worked more in his favor.

The Nadeau penalty is a more direct parallel to what wasn't called at the end. If Nadeau, who was driving in place of the injured Ernie Irvan, deserved a two-lap penalty for hitting a hobbled race car with 400 laps to go, what did Earnhardt deserve a quarter-mile from the checkered flag?

Nothing, NASCAR decided. Without definitive evidence he intentionally wrecked Labonte, Earnhardt keeps his 73rd career victory and race fans get a controversy. Had Nadeau not been penalized early in the race, the controversy wouldn't nearly have as much meat. There was certainly no more proof of and far less motivation for Nadeau to deliberately wreck Jarrett than for Earnhardt to take out Labonte.

Without the Nadeau penalty, NASCAR would have had a solid defense for swallowing the whistle. If you decide to penalize Earnhardt, how do you go about it? Do you dock Earnhardt a number of laps to push him back in the field? If so, that makes Jimmy Spencer the race winner and not Terry Labonte, who is the aggrieved party. Do you revert back to the running order after Lap 499 to make Labonte the winner? Do that and you take away second from Spencer and third from Ricky Rudd, who did nothing wrong.

The obvious irony is that a controversial finish ending in an Earnhardt victory is exactly the kind of thing Winston Cup race fans live for. Saturday's race will fuel discussions for weeks, and it won't do anything to hurt ticket sales for future races at Bristol, either. Things like what happened Saturday are why you can fill more than 140,000 seats around a half-mile of concrete.

"Race fans are great people," said Earnhardt, who heard boos in Victory Lane. "They’re great critics, too. If they're not cheering they'd better be booing me. I've got big shoulders and I can take the blame or the pressure or whatever. I'm sure we'll hear about the race for a while and we'll just have to take it like it is. I have to take what comes and race from here on. Was I not supposed to try to pass him back? I know I wasn't supposed to try to wreck him, but was I not supposed to try to get back to him and get under him?"

Labonte didn't start any fights Saturday night, but he did sound a warning. "He'd better tighten his belts up" Labonte said of Earnhardt. Earnhardt knew Labonte wouldn't be his best buddy. "We'll have to wait and see if he punches me out or won't talk to me or just waits until the next race or whatever," Earnhardt said. "Terry is a great racer. We've raced a lot over the years. We went hunting and have done some things together, but you know, people get upset. I can apologize to him all day long and that's not going to change what happened."

Does that mean that Earnhardt felt like he has something to apologize for? "I don't know," Earnhardt said. "If it would have been on the other foot and I had been the one turned around, I probably would think about it pretty hard and know he was going to race me hard for the win. I've always took my medicine, took what happened and just sucked it up and go to the next race."

And then of course, there is what Dale Earnhardt told Jeff Gordon once... "If they are booing you, you're doing something right." So going by that sentiment, and the fact that somebody is always whining about Jeff Gordon like you've been doing in this thread, Lee, he must be doing something right.