Unlike in other sports where playoff participants don’t have the
non-title contenders to deal with, competitors in NASCAR’s playoff—the
Chase for the Sprint Cup—still have to race with and around other
drivers/teams that they’ve been competing against all season long. With
that being said, should Chase drivers get or expect special treatment
from the non-Chasers they’re sharing the race track with? After all,
non-Chasers are looking to log race wins too.
In the 10 races that make up the Chase, on-track incidents that
earlier in the season probably wouldn’t garner much attention from those
not involved end up being scrutinized in the Chase if they involve a
Chase driver. Case in point—the contact between non-Chaser David
Reutimann and Chase competitor Kyle Busch during the Price Chopper 400
at Kansas Speedway this past Sunday.
Early in the race, Busch made contact with Reutimann—contact that
Busch claimed was unintentional and caused by his inability to check up
with Reutimann’s car got loose. Unintentional or not, and Busch being a
Chase driver or not, Reutimann believed that a move of retaliation was
in order. Several laps later his move of retaliation was carried out as
he intentionally hit Busch, causing his car to scrape the wall and
eventually finish the race in the 21st position.
After Reutimann’s retalitory move, Busch radioed his crew saying that
if NASCAR didn’t penalize Reutimann, there was was going to be a
meeting after the race. To my knowledge, the meeting never happened, but
the series of events prompted an official statement from Michael
Waltrip Racing the following Monday saying:
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