Teammate-ship
Yeah, yeah, I know teammate-ship isn't a word. But it should be, and the folks at Gibbs and Hendrick oughta learn it pronto after the dumbnitude (another non-word that ought to be one) at Daytona on Saturday night.
First, the Gibbs boy. Tony Stewart's the only guy in the garage with the chutzpah to blame a teammate for wrecking him when the teammate (in this case Denny Hamlin) is driving in front of him. Stewart's quick to blame bump drafting for problems at the plate tracks. But Stewart -- not Harvick or Johnson or Tony Raines or Crazy Joe Wreckemall -- is proving to be the biggest danger at Daytona and Dega these days. He violated the main rule - Thou Shalt Not Bump in the Corner - and punted Hamlin good. (Check out this video here - the shot from the 20 starts at about the 1:15 mark.)
Then there's the Hendrick team, which will be a three-car team by the time the Chase starts because someone will strangle Kyle Busch. (I'm betting on Casey Mears - he's not as mild-mannered as he looks. Plus he's expendable.) Busch was quick to blame his teammates for not helping him toward the end of the race. Can't say I blame him all that much - he had a wicked fast car (so did McMurray), and he figures even a little Hendrick help would be worth an extra 0.006.
At the same time, I can't blame Gordon or Johnson for hanging back. Busch was a wreck waiting to happen. And remember that Baby Busch was the one who pushed McMurray into the lead with five laps to go and hung out both Gordon and Johnson. At the very end of the race, Gordon couldn't get down to help Busch, and McMurray got a nice little push from teammate Carl Edwards.
I expect these guys to be aggressive on the track - they're race-car drivers, after all, and the good ones would run over their mamas, their dogs and their pickup trucks (in that order) for a win. But their own teammates? That just ain't right.
Comments (4)
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Thou shalt not dump your team mate has been the rule since the beginning of time..this especially is true on the 14 th lap...Tony shoots from the hip at a drop of a hat which gets him in trouble sometimes...He was wrong but he at least speaks his mind rather than playing the stepford driver and playing the script....
Posted on July 12, 2007 10:52 PM
The sportsmanship and teamwork of both the teams was horrendous, tho I understand Gordon and Johnson. Baby Busch is always a wreck waiting to happen.
I was really disappointed with my driver's attitude towards his teammate. It was not Denny's fault. It was Tony's and I think Tony needs to make a direct, public apology to Denny myself. Somebody must have stolen Tony's happy pills again, or he and the girly girl are having some issues...probably both. But then again, we could assume post concussional syndrome.
Spam.
Posted on July 13, 2007 1:21 PM
If I were going around the track as fast as these guys, I might want to put all my energy into driving rather than wasting some of it on being ticked off at anybody. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
I think "dumbnitude" is the perfect word to describe the attitudes displayed.
Sarah
nascar race
Posted on July 16, 2007 2:18 PM
Welcome back John, where were you covering the Aaron Fike story?
Anyway it appears Coach Gibbs can still work his magic on the track as opposed to on the field.
As far as Shrub Busch, well I have no use for him. I know he is talented, but I think we have located someone slightly worse than his brother.
Posted on July 16, 2007 3:06 PM