Passion in NASCAR isn’t dead yet…and a few thoughts on the race at Texas

By Mike Smith (contact)

Monday, April 6, 2009 | 3:53 p.m.

Prior to the beginning of Sunday’s race, Fox aired an opinion piece by Darrell Waltrip in which he lamented the lack of fire and passion in the sport today. Darrell wants to see drivers be more confrontational with one another and be unafraid to speak their minds.

Well, we all like to see drama and emotional honesty from the drivers, but I don’t think that will solve the problems this sport is currently facing. Making the races more competitive is what will fill the stands, put people in front of their TVs and create more interest in the sport.

I don’t think there’s less passion in the sport, but Darrell is right that there’s too much pressure on the drivers to be politically correct. The passion is still there to win and compete, but drivers are less likely to express themselves when image-conscious corporate sponsors expect a controlled, polite and professional spokesperson to be behind the wheel. And NASCAR drivers aren’t the rough-around-the-edges personalities they used to be when Darrell was winning races.

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Rick Hendrick recently made a public show of support for Tony Eury Jr. The boss was right to stand up for his people when they received heat from outside the company. But I don’t expect this support to be unending in a highly competitive environment where corporate sponsors expect results. Hendrick won’t remain patient forever, especially if scenes like the ones we saw this weekend in the pits continue. Eventually the bell will toll and even the most popular driver will have to start finding victory lane.

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Larry McReynolds had one of the best observations I’ve heard about the steady improvement Tony Stewart. is showing in the No. 14 car. He mentioned that all those years working for Joe Gibbs taught Tony an important lesson that could only be learned from someone like Gibbs. Hire the right people. Tony followed that advice and it’s one of the reasons, along with his great talent, that he is doing so well so early.

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Speaking of hiring the right people, I wonder what’s going through Roger Penske’s mind since he dressed down Kurt Busch over the radio at the Martinsville race? Fox played the audio of the conversation on Sunday in which Penske basically told Kurt that if he didn’t stop verbally abusing his crew he should get out of the car.

Whenever one of my children needs a little disciplining, I refer to these encounters as a defining moment. And a defining moment is what Kurt received from Penske.

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