Gentleman, cool your engines: Tempers flare, drivers snap as NASCAR season heats up

Feuding drivers heat up NASCAR series

LOUDON, N.H. — Wrecks. Revenge. Name calling.

Sounds like a recipe for a summer blockbuster coming to a theater near you. Instead, it’s just another week in the Sprint Cup series where tempers are flaring, drivers are feuding and payback lurks right around the next turn.

Rivalries are heating up with the temperatures as only 10 races remain until the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field is set.

Jeff Gordon might have to watch his bumper when the flag drops for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He left last week’s race at Infineon Raceway as NASCAR’s most wanted for a series of overly aggressive moves on the track.

One of those times led to a race-ending wreck for Martin Truex Jr. Truex was running inside the top 10 when Gordon spun him, causing him to drop back into traffic, where he was caught in a multi-car accident.

Gordon took the blame for that one and left an apology this week on Truex’s voicemail.

Truex has accepted the apology, and he wants Gordon to accept the fact that he’ll change the way he races the four-time champion from here on out.

“The nice guy seems to always get pushed around and I’m tired of being the nice guy,” said Truex, who has one career win. “I’m tired of getting pushed around.”

Truex vowed on his radio last week to seek revenge against Gordon. He backed off a bit on Friday and said he won’t go out of the way to intentionally wreck Gordon. He just won’t hesitate to deliver some payback if the opportunity presents itself this week at New Hampshire, or beyond.

“There’s been times when Jeff’s caught me and ever even gave me the chance to get out of the way,” Truex said. “He just started running into me, and he’s the first guy to hang his middle finger out the window when he goes by you.

“Things are going to change, that’s all I’m saying.”

Truex might have to take a number. Gordon and Truex are only one simmering feud in a series where new disputes are seemingly popping up every week.

Gordon angered Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle last week. Busch finished 32nd last week and said contact from Gordon cut his right-rear tire.

Gordon was unapologetic.

Busch drew some laughs with his new nickname for Gordon.

“There are a lot of guys in front of me that want to go talk to Jeff ‘Bulldozer’ Gordon,” he said.

Gordon knows he’s going to have to deal with retaliation eventually.

“I’m going to deal with whatever comes my way,” Gordon said.

Vince McMahon could have created a Wrestlemania card just off last week alone. Joey Logano was angry with Juan Pablo Montoya. Boris Said’s crew chief had a beef with Tony Stewart. Carl Edwards was furious a solid run was spoiled by road-racer Jan Magnussen.

While some applaud the reborn aggressive style that came with NASCAR backing off on penalties and trusting the drivers to police themselves, others fear the sport is morphing into an out-of-control demolition derby for no good reason.

“I thought last week was horrendous,” Jeff Burton said. “I thought the behavior shown last week from driver to driver was completely unacceptable. If our sport is going to become that, then we need to change it from racing to demolition cars because that wasn’t racing last week.”

Burton said drivers, in their haste to do all they can to make the Chase, have lost respect for others on the track. Double-file restarts and the “boys, have at it” edict have only added to the insanity of already pressure-packed races.

“Everybody in this garage knows how to use the brake pedal and the throttle and use the steering wheels,” Burton said. “Yet people chose not to use them correctly because it was either in their best interest to run over the guy in front of them, or they were trying really hard to keep from getting run over from behind.”

It seems whatever happens on the track, isn’t staying on the track.

Gordon and four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson exchanged some public barbs earlier this year after two straight weeks of run-ins. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, another pair of teammates, also fired harsh words at each other. Logano and Kevin Harvick let their feud boil into a caustic war of words.

This is one way to spice up a sport that has seen attendance and TV ratings dip in recent years.

“It is much more entertaining,” Mark Martin said.