During the drivers meeting before the Cup Series championship race on Sunday, NASCAR EVP of competition Elton Sawyer told the assembled roster ‘we witnessed what not to do on Friday night,’ but that Saturday was the right example.
The Cup Series followed the Xfinity Series with a similar level of professional intensity and left the crash-filled Truck Series race on Friday as the only blemish to an otherwise successful championship weekend. But what a blemish it was.
“I was not impressed,” said Martin Truex Jr. “That is not professional auto racing. It’s a joke. They need to fix it.”
Tony Stewart, who owns the Xfinity Series championship car driven by Cole Custer on Saturday called the race a ‘s-show.’
Carson Hocevar drifted up the track and wiped out regular season champion Corey Heim while racing for the championship lead in the closing stages of the race. Heim seemingly retaliated with four laps to go and walled Hocevar to deny Grant Enfinger a championship that was firmly within reach.
There were countless cautions throughout the race. It ultimately ended with Ben Rhodes winning a second championship.
Xfinity Series championship finalist and a NASCAR veteran of two decades, Justin Allgaier couldn’t believe what he was watching.
“Last night, I’m sorry, we were sitting at dinner, and I wanted to turn it off because it didn’t show what I know that our sport is capable of,” Allgaier said.
“Now, those moments, they’re going to learn from them. Carson (Hocevar) last night was highly critical of himself when he walked out of there. That’s fine. The next opportunity is how do you fix it. I think that he got a really difficult life lesson, but something that I think a lot more people need to learn. I think the more guys learn it, the better it is.”
Hocevar expressed remorse, both in real time, and upon being release from the infield care center but Truex wasn’t buying it.
“I think it’s an act,” Truex said bluntly. “I think he’s just acting out to try and make people feel sorry for him.”
Denny Hamlin was critical of the race on Twitter as it unfolded and compared it to a football game with no rules. He says a race like that did more harm to the sport than whatever short term gains the drama provided.
He says something needs to change within the culture of that division from over the past several seasons.
“I don’t think NASCAR is ever going to make that change,” Hamlin said of policing the drivers. “My opinion of it is it’s not even a short-term gain anymore. Sure, it gets some people on social media talking, but we’re not getting more viewers because of this chaos we’ve created.”
Truex echoed that sentiment and even worried that it is bleeding over into the Xfinity Series with what happened the weekend before at Martinsville.
“The level of respect has been going down and down and down in the lower series for years,” Truex said. “You see it now in the trucks. Where you going to see it next? Xfinity race in Martinsville last weekend was a complete disaster. I don’t know — it’s kind of embarrassing for the sport I think.”
Kyle Busch, who recently sold his Truck Series operation to Spire Motorsports, says he’s glad he doesnt have to deal with the financial consequences of the current on-track product.
“I mean, there’s no respect whatsoever,” Busch said. “Everybody runs over everybody, tears up equipment. So, yeah, I’m glad I’m not an owner of it. But honestly, I’m still a driver of it, so still have to deal with it.”
So what can be done?
Stewart said it’s self-policing in a sense because teams owners simply shouldn’t hire drivers who engage in that behavior. He said he would set that example right now for his Cup and Xfinity Series teams.
“Good news, I feel like it’s self-policing from our side as owners because I’m not hiring any of those guys that were pulling those antics last night,” Stewart said. “I don’t want those guys driving our race cars because if they’re going to crash somebody else, people get tired of that. And when they get tired of it, they start tearing up your race cars.
“We’re not the ones driving it and putting everybody in those scenarios, that driver is. We’re going to put drivers in that we feel like have their act together and their composure and know how to do it the right way. And when you see those guys, then those guys get snatched up pretty quick by owners because we are all paying attention to what is going on in the Truck Series.
“But as much as they can make a name for themselves in a positive way, they also have the ability to make a name for themselves in a negative way and make it to where we’re not interested in looking at them anymore. So it gives you time to focus on the other drivers that you think have potential.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.