NASCAR Cup Series

Saturday night's actions crossed the 'boys, have at it' line

Published Oct. 13, 2014 3:00 p.m. ET

Larry McReynolds

I don't think what we saw Saturday night at the end of the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was simply "boys, have at it." I really think it crossed the line and I feel NASCAR will see it the same way. I just think because of the intensity and the urgency that this new Chase format has created you can clearly see that desperation is setting in.

If you look at the three main drivers involved for the most part in the closing laps of the race and then after the race they all share one thing. All three are fighting, albeit sometimes literally, and clawing to try and make it to the third round. I mean think about it, two of them are on the outside and the third one is just barely on the inside.

As you have heard me say time and time again, you simply don't use race cars for retaliation. When you do that, you run the risk of hurting innocent people, plus you force extra work on your team back at the shop that have to fix or rebuild your race car.

I think where the line got crossed was when they crossed the line coming on pit road. At that point the racing is over. The cool down laps are over and guys are stopping their cars and getting unbuckled from their safety gear. You also have crew members starting to come towards race cars and naturally media folks wanting to talk to the drivers.

Don't get me wrong, I still want my drivers to have feelings and show their emotions. I don't want my driver getting crashed out of a race, come back to the garage and tell me "it's okay -- he didn't mean it."

To me it doesn't matter a few years ago that NASCAR said "boys, have at it" because there still has to be lines in the sand. NASCAR knows that and trust me they do have those lines. Unfortunately those lines, in my opinion were crossed Saturday night.

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