Contenders on collision course
If NASCAR’s season finale turns into title fight, that’s just racing.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — NASCAR has always been a contact sport. The sport rose to national prominence on the bump-and-grind embraced by fans who loved contentious crashes.
It’s uncertain whether there will be any brawls Sunday afternoon when Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick emerge from the scrum of the Ford EcoBoost 400. They are the “Championship 4,” part of this newfangled playoff system in the evolution of NASCAR.
Struggling for eyeballs and relevance, NASCAR has reinvented itself by tweaking the playoff format. Despite the groans from traditionalists, the sport got it right this year:
The three most dominant drivers this season — all former champions — are in the mix, coupled with Joey Logano, the ultimate wild card on the track.
It brings us full circle to the contact-sport context. Logano is NASCAR’s version of a pro wrestling heel. He has jostled with Truex in Martinsville and Aric Almirola in Texas.
Perhaps Almirola will extract sweet revenge, but the sharper focus is on Truex, who said during last week’s media availability that the rules of engagement will be different with Logano.
“Absolutely,” Truex said. “I have a free pass; he already told me that. Told me it’s fair game, so here we go.”
Logano doesn’t quite see it that way.
“I didn’t tell him that,” Logano said. “I said, ‘Hey, I expect to get raced the way I race people.’ I’m a hard racer. I expect to get raced hard. I said it before: We didn’t crash each other. I didn’t crash him. Moved him up enough to have a drag race. That’s what I explained to him.”
It’s an unpredictable scenario for Sunday but practicality may prevail: If Logano and Truex get caught up in payback shenanigans, they could take each other out, and gift a championship to Busch or Harvick.
One thing seems obvious, or at least ironic: Why is anyone complaining about rough-house tactics in a sport that needs an uptick in terms of interest and competitive juice?
That’s racin’, boys. Embrace it.
“Fans ask for NASCAR drivers to race ‘side by side FOR THE WIN,’ ” retired driver Kenny Wallace tweeted after the LoganoTruex dustup. “And they just did. My heart was pounding. GREAT RACE!!”
Exactly.