Why Carl Edwards' bump of Kyle Busch 'was great' for NASCAR
Dave Rogers gets it. That much is obvious in the aftermath of Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
Rogers is the crew chief for Richmond race winner Carl Edwards, who used a classic last-lap bump-and-run move to shove his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch out of the way and win the race.
In the aftermath of the contact, there was much discussion about how drivers should race each other and whether or not teammates should race each other differently.
Rogers speaks from a position of authority on the matter. He has been a crew chief at JGR since 2006, and has been the crew chief for three of the team's current four Cup drivers. He knows the people involved and the politics involved when teammates race each other for the win.
After the race, Rogers said he would talk with Adam Stevens, Busch's crew chief, and that Busch and Edwards would talk, too. Things will be OK on that front.
And then Rogers got to the heart of the matter.
"If we look at the big picture, today was a great day for NASCAR," he said. "Our fans don't want to see teammate orders. They don't deserve teammates to fall in line. They deserve good, hard racing."
Good, hard racing.
Yes, that absolutely is what everyone wants to see. Sometimes fans complain because their driver comes out on the short end, but good, hard racing is what we all want to see every time the cars take to the track. And Rogers clearly understands that.
"Today was a great day for the sport," Rogers said. "It stinks that we had to move a teammate. I'm sure Adam and I will talk about it, and Carl and Kyle will talk about it. But I think it would be very disappointing to our fans if (team owner) Joe (Gibbs) imposed a team order and told us, 'Hey, have a parade instead of a race.'"
And Rogers noted that the roles could be reversed before too long.
"There's going to be plenty of days that the 18 (Busch) is faster than us and they'll probably get to our back bumper and move us," said Rogers. "We'll go down to Victory Lane, shake their hands, tell them, 'Good job.' That's just a testament to Joe Gibbs Racing, allowing us to put ourselves in that position."
So far this season, we've seen more good, hard racing than we have in years.
Let's hope it continues. I have a feeling it will.
