Conspiracy theories have become quite popular in the NASCAR community.
There are those who think certain drivers are basically golden boys and given more leeway than other competitors.
There have even been times when it appears “phantom” caution flags fly in an effort to reset the field in certain races.
I’ve tried to steer clear of such subversive thoughts. In most cases, I’m not looking for the second spotter on the grassy knoll to determine why something happened. Now, however, I’m thinking it might be time to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon.
NASCAR.com and several other media outlets are reporting that Brad Keselowski has been warned by the sanctioning body to race in the Chase for the Championship a bit softer. Keselowski himself admitted as much following Sunday’s race at Kansas City.
Seems he was challenging Chase contender Juan Pablo Montoya a little hard and NASCAR disapproved.
I can understand a driver getting issued a warning for dangerous driving — it happens all the time. But this suggests that NASCAR is telling guys who aren’t in the “playoffs” to back off.
But like my fellow conspiracy theorists, I doubt this is a blanket warning.
Do you really think Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be told the same thing?
Of course not.
Keselowski, on the other hand, is not yet a superstar with a huge fan base who sells millions of dollars worth of merchandise each year. He does have one Sprint Cup checker (at Talladega), but that’s not enough to give him a free pass from NASCAR.
This is one of the problems I have with the Chase. On the one hand you have 12 guys competing for a title over the final 10 races of the season. But that means there are 31 other drivers on the track who have just as much right to race for the win as anyone else, even if they can’t claim a title.
If NASCAR isn’t concerned about the 31 also-rans, then go ahead and make the Chase a real playoff and just have the Top 12 compete the rest of the way.
That would be stupid, of course, and go against everything that stock car racing is about. Still there would be no worries about drivers who aren’t supposed to win racing for the win.
Telling Keselowski to back off is like telling a losing team in the NFL to lie down against a playoff-bound squad late in the season.
To his credit the young driver is taking the warning with a grain of salt and vows to race the way he has always raced each week, even if it involves passing a driver in the Chase.
Good for him.
Just because a championship is out of reach doesn’t mean drivers outside the Top 12 — from Keselowski to Kyle Busch to Matt Kenseth — shouldn’t be doing everything within the rules to win.
Last time I checked when a checkered flag is up for grabs there is no gentleman’s agreement to yield to a pilot in the Chase.
And there never should be.
You race to win, even if you can’t win it all.
Contact Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at adamsonl(at)independentmail.com.
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