Click here to follow us on Twitter @circletrackplus   Click here to like us on Facebook 

The best defense is a good offense.

This may not be as pertinent a point in NASCAR as it is in the NFL. Or the NBA. Or the NHL. Or in worldwide soccer in all its varieties around the world.

It's there, though, and it becomes an issue whenever controversy occurs regarding an incident that decides a race, such as the confrontation with Matt Kenseth late in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 that enabled Joey Logano to win the Kansas Speedway race.

It occurs when kids play ball on a playground.

That was a flagrant foul, Joe. Man, that was dirty!

Yeah? Well, remember that time when we were in the fourth grade and you hit me going up for a rebound and I had to get stitches in my chin? How about that? That was a flagrant foul, too, you jerk, and you don't have any right to say anything about me fouling you. You had it coming, Timmy.

That's why each incident must be judged independently.

It doesn't even have to be sports. Let's say twin sisters both have dates. One looks in the closet and discovers the other has made off with her favorite pair of jeans.

You stole my jeans! I bought them with my own money, and it wasn't so you could impress Freddie!

Oh, yeah, well, how about that time we were at the beach and you took my swimsuit? Huh? How about that?

The issue isn't the beach when we were 13, Michele. It's right now, and you are wrong.

Well, that's just tough.

Well, let's just see what Daddy says.

The NCAA busts a college football team for cheating. Fans scream, Hey, everybody does it. We just got caught. The NCAA is out to get us. They let other schools get away with murder. No fair!

They don't have scoreboards that tally up demerits and vices. If they did, it might be as exciting as the games. What happened in the last eight laps in Kansas was as exciting as the first 361 (the race went two extra).

I tried to be evenhanded in a column I wrote earlier about the events of Sunday past. No one wants evenhanded. Fans who prefer one will take his side, and so will fans of the other.

This morning one tweet in response to that column expressed this view: Matt's first win, he pushed Tony Stewart out of the way and Tony wasn't even blocking him.

That was the Coca-Cola 600, run on May 28, 2000, more than 15 years ago. Kenseth was 28 years old. Now he's 43.

Forever young!

I don't blame Kenseth for blocking, if he blocked, and whether he did or not depends on how each person defines it. He was desperate for a victory and still is, thanks to Logano bumping him out of the way.

I don't blame Logano. Fans say winning is what is important, unless it keeps their favorite from winning. Logano already had his ticket punched to the next round. Isn't it sort of encouraging that he didn't care about it? He just wanted to win.

My reply to the tweet was: It's like calling someone a drunk because he got wasted 30 years ago at the prom.

And the retort was: Well, because 140 characters doesn't allow for the complete story, but Matt has many examples of doing the same thing, no angel.

If there's ever been an angel competing regularly at NASCAR's highest level, he had his wings concealed carefully. I'd say horns are more prevalent. 


Most of the drivers are nice fellows, but saints, well, they ain’t.