NASCAR Cup Series

Junior: Mixing it up is part of racing

Published May. 10, 2011 11:13 p.m. ET

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Dale Earnhardt Jr's father wrote the book on intimidation in NASCAR.

Perhaps that's why NASCAR's Most Popular driver has adopted a different approach. Certainly, Junior has a kinder, gentler style as opposed to rattling a fellow driver's cage every time he isn't raced to his liking on the track.

Earnhardt will be the first to admit that a mid-pack driver isn't much of a target. Lately, Earnhardt's concentration has been focused on performance — not drama.

"I've got a race car to drive, man," Earnhardt said. "If I was as competitive as those guys have been the last several years, I'd definitely be a lot more aggressive about it. If I ran up front all the time, I'd be in my share of those mix-ups.

"But it's hard to start a fight when you're on the defense all the time. When your car ain't running good enough, you just look like an idiot running over people."

Earnhardt, a historian of the sport, didn't feel that the shenanigans between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were anything out of the ordinary. And Earnhardt has seen his share of altercations in the past. However, even before his four-year drought when he was a weekly contender, Earnhardt rarely factored into the controversy.

"That incident to me was no different than anything we've seen in the last 20 years," Earnhardt said. "It didn't stand out to me as anything . . . It was just two guys having a disagreement, man. That's just the way it is.

"If they drag it on, they'll drag it on. If they don't, they don't. Whatever they want to do, they'll do it. Everybody else just does what they do. I don't think that much about it."

Even in the "Boys Have at It" era, Earnhardt believes there comes a time when the sanctioning must factor into the process. There still needs to be that line drawn that competitors cannot pass. Tuesday, Harvick and Busch were fined $25,000 and placed on probation until June 15th. Earnhardt was pleased that points were not deducted as part of the penalty.

"NASCAR has to make themselves visible and tangible as some kind of a ruling body," Earnhardt said. "If they just step back and let the idiots run the asylum, that's not going to work out too well. Any time we get out of hand, they need to step in and do whatever they think they need to do and whatever that penalty is, that penalty is.

"I was just glad they didn't set a precedent by taking away points. With the new points system we don't know a lot about the new points system and how it's going to shake out. I was a little worried they were going to take points away from those guys, and I was kind of glad that they didn't touch that because that's a bit of a commodity at this point until we understand the new system. I don't think they truly understand the value of a single point, so I'm glad they didn't go in that direction."

With Harvick and Busch facing probation, it brings to question just what is NASCAR's intent with the practice? At times, there appears to be a gray area where drivers that are on probation do not temper their style on the race track or when drivers who have issues with other drivers continue their run ins. Then there are the secret probations the public often doesn't hear about until after the fact.

"NASCAR wants you to do whatever you think you're capable of doing in between the flags," Earnhardt said. "They've never really went to penalize someone for anything that happened between the green and the checkered flag. It's always everything that happened after that.

"They're not going to come and do a judgment call on what happened on the racetrack. There's too many variable involved, and the drivers are there to police themselves during that period."

The debate on whether probation applies to non-point events such as the All-Star race — which falls into the period that Harvick and Busch are under scrutiny — should not affect the way the drivers race according to Earnhardt.

"You're still going to drive hard, and you're still going to race as hard as you can," Earnhardt said. "It's obvious when things are intentional and things aren't. As far I understand it, if you go out there and race hard . . . and say they get into the same situation that happened before the checkered flag (at Darlington) — I don't think anything would happen to them. But if they go out of the box and do things that are detrimental, then I think the probation becomes a problem.

"When you're a driver, you're cognizant of that. You can still race hard and get in your fair share of scrape-ups on the racetrack, when you're racing. That's part of the race in-between flags, but it's the kind of things that happen after the race that I guess they don't like."

Earnhardt didn't get the sense that the sanctioning body was "too upset" by last week's incident. Particularly, since the altercations on the track — and off — provided perfect fodder for the highlight reels.

"There is a definite value to that type of drama in the sport," Earnhardt said. "Obviously, it will resonate with the fans. Even if they don't like it, it sparks conversation. Especially, with the internet platform and social media, it's such a simple, quick way to connect fans to the sport.

"Nothing really happened that should turn people upside down. It was just a couple of guys having a disagreement. That happens in every race. Some of 'em just spill out a little more than most."

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