Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch ARE NOT Tight In Turn Two!

Despite statements NASCAR made earlier this year to let the boys handle themselves and not get involved, NASCAR has indeed stepped in and gotten involved in a feud.

It announced probations on Wednesday for our new spatting frenemies, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. There's been no wrist slap, but they are being watched for the next six races by Big Brother - NASCAR, starting with the Fontana, CA race. It's been declared that they violated Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing; hitting another competitor's car after the race had concluded) of the 2008 NASCAR rule book.

As I see it, Carl did no wrong in my book and did what NASCAR competitors do best: Police themselves. Or at least they used to be able to do that.

Kyle got out of hand after the race with his tantrum and Carl punted him. Deed done. Of course Kyle (The Child) Busch has to whine about how the win was taken from him and vent his frustration "kicking the trash can". If he had the win in hand, why wasn't he pulling away? How'd Carl catch him? Gimme a break Busch. Accept your fate now that you are at the other end of your very own medicine. Now, you know how Johnny Benson felt in a previous truck event! Or better yet, do we remember when we pushed Dale Earnhardt Jr out of the way at Richmond? Or more precisely, put Jr right into the wall, yanking a win away from Jr..

With that said, I thought to myself, "Self? This sounds like the makings of a great question for that other guy I have to fly Tight in Turn 2 with, Charlie Turner of OnPitRow." With that in mind, I showed Charlie my premise, then tossed him this question to follow up on my Edwards vs. Busch tirade:

So Is This Probation on Busch and Edwards Warranted?

Bruce: Up until the announcement, I was in anticipation of the next few races and wondering what was going to happen between these two. With the probation now in place, this takes the wind out of my anticipatory sails. For just one moment, everyone was looking at the feud with a certain amount of anticipation. The kind of media attention that NASCAR needs. It keeps things interesting and on edge, and it certainly helps with ratings and media attention. But now, it's just become a one week spat. For that, thanks NASCAR.

BUT: I think that where NASCAR is coming from is concern for innocent victims in this fray, so they're pretty sure the probation is warranted. If anything, they probably think they are looking out to protect the other Chase contenders from getting caught up in the aftermath of what Kyle may be planning, or at the very least, has proven what he's capable of when he's in one of his snits. Oh wait, Kyle planning? Is that even part of his vocabulary?


Charlie: Warranted? If all NASCAR wants to do is castrate its competitors, then yeah, its warranted. I don't think it's smart. I don't think that the probation is in the best interest of interesting, compelling, ultra-competitive auto racing.

What happened the the early season commitment to letting these guys express themselves more honestly?

Just when you get a couple drivers talking honestly about what happened on the track and how they saw it- who were still fresh from the heat of the action and about as worked up as you can get, by the way - NASCAR wants to do something that will create more mealy mouthed apologists and corporate sock puppets. If Kyle and Carl had talked more like Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne, there would be no probation.


Related posts to Carl vs Kyle:
Ding Ding: Carl Edwards Vs. Kyle Busch

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Of course with that said, Charlie fired back a question, per the norm, that he had in his mind:

Do I like the new format of the Budweiser Shootout?