NASCAR Cup Series

Vote now: What did you think of JGR, Stewart Talladega strategy?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:19 p.m. ET

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Some race fans are irate that three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, plus Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing, deliberately laid back in Sunday's Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Others seem to think that what they did wasn't only just OK, but downright brilliant (at least in the terms of the JGR cars all moving on in the Chase).

To recap, the JGR cars of Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards entered the race with big points cushions in the Chase, knowing they mainly just had to avoid disaster of any kind to secure advancement into the next round of the Chase playoffs. So they stayed toward the back of the field all day, eventually finishing 28th through 30th. It was all they needed to do to survive and move on with their championship hopes still intact.

When their JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin, finished third to secure his spot in the Chase, the end result was that JGR's Toyotas now make up half of the field in the Chase Round of 8. (Hamlin had to race hard because he was on the outside of the Chase bubble looking in when the race began).

Stewart already had been eliminated from the Chase, but told his No. 14 SHR team that he wanted to stay out of harm's way in the back of the field. He was anticipating a big wreck that never really came and ended up finishing 32nd. Stewart is retiring as a Sprint Cup driver at the end of this season.

So was their strategy smart? Or was it shameful in a sport where it is generally believed that every racer should attempt to get the best finish he can in every race he enters? Or was it somewhere in between?

Here is your chance to have your voice heard in the matter by voting in the FOXSports.com poll below.

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