iNSIDE SCOOP: This is Getting Out of Hand

Another race, another fight. 

Don't get me wrong. Fighting is as much a part of NASCAR's lore as moonshine and Jocko Flocko, but it's getting to be too much the story.

This isn't the Allisons vs. Cale Yarborough at Daytona 1979. This is the Hatfields and McCoys, with air wrenches and shock tubes instead of the old Sharps .50s. When the crews are in it, the potential mayhem increases, as you saw last night in Texas. And it wasn't just the 2 and 24 crews either. One crew, I think it was Menard's, was tossing guys out of their pit box with abandon. 

NASCAR is going to look at the tape to see who did what to whom, and they'd better have coffee and a lot of 5-Hour Energy. It's going to take a while. It looked for a while like the end of Blazing Saddles, where the cowboys are mixing it up with the all-male dancers and Dom DeLuise.

For its part, NASCAR will go to the videotape and tally up the jabs, uppercuts and haymakers and come to some sort of penalty structure for the brawl. It could be a lonely garage area at Phoenix.

This could be an interesting addendum to Keselowski's race for the Chase title, too. He's already on probation for what happened at Charlotte in October.

“We knew the (new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup) format was going to put a lot of pressure on people to perform and make aggressive moves and decisions out there on the race track,” NASCAR senior VP of competition and racing development Robin Pemberton said. “You could see the result of that after the race.

 “We’re going to take our time. We’ve got a lot of film to review and things like that. The important thing is to make the right decision at the end of the day.”

Pemberton says NASCAR draws the line when drivers and crew members come to blows. "You shouldn’t punch somebody,” he said. “Everybody gets together, and when you’re holding onto each other and grabbing and this, that and the other, that’s one thing. When punches are landed, that’s a different scenario...we have a lot of work to do this week.” 

It's starting to look like extra personnel are going to be needed for driver safety. I'm not talking about security. NASCAR has that handled on pit road. I'm talking about a manager, a bucket man and a cut man. Gordon and Keselowski could have used a big Q-tip with coagulant after the to-do, and there were other injuries as well, I'm sure.

Pemberton said that NASCAR had no problem with the on-track action that sparked the brawl.

“I think it was hard racing, and this is a contact sport,” Pemberton said of Keselowski’s up-the-middle attempt pass on the next-to-last restart, a move that left Gordon with a cut tire and diminished championship chances. “You look at what drivers are trying to do. We had a couple shots at a green-white-checkered finish, and everybody was going for it. Nobody was leaving anything behind.”

Except bloody towels and aches and pains from the post-race party, that is.

Keselowski's move, from this corner, was not a big deal. It's what happens in late-race restarts, especially with the pressure cooker turned way up past Col. Sanders level. He saw a gap and he went for it, which is what you hope your driver does at a time like that. Unfortunately, Keselowski has proven over the years that he'll drive through you to get a spot, and Gordon was the guy he drove through. Kevin Harvick, who finished second, called it "bulldoze mode," and it was that.

In watching it unfold, I think the moment it went crazy was when a Team Penske crewman sealed Gordon off at the A pillar and Keselowski turned his back on Gordon. Right after that, Gordon does a head-fake to get around the blocker and goes after Keselowski. 

From there, it was a trip to Fight Club, minus Brad Pitt.

"He's just a (expletive)," Gordon said of Keselowski. "The way he races, I don't know how he's ever won a championship and I'm just sick and tired. That's why everyone is fighting him and running him down. Your emotions are high. That was a huge, huge race for us. We had the car and had the position. I'm so proud of my team and I'm proud of Jimmie Johnson for winning that race and not letting that little you-know-what win that race."

Gordon was as angry as I've ever seen him, in 22 years as a NASCAR driver.

"There wasn't a conversation. You can't have a conversation with him. He gets himself in this position and he has to pay the consequences. I'm going to race him the same way he races me. That kind of stuff is just uncalled for and I'm not going to stand for it. It's just a bunch of crap. The kid is just doing stuff way over his head. That's just uncalled for. You're racing for a win and a championship. You don't go slam someone and cut their left-rear tire. If that's what it takes, then no problem. We can do the same thing to him."

Keselowski was a bit more subdued, what with the blood running off his face in two place.

"I am doing everything I can to win this championship racing at 100-percent and that is something I am not going to be ashamed for," Keselowski said. "If I was out there wrecking guys to do it, that would be one thing, but a little bit of rubbing is how this sport was created and probably how it should move forward. I don't mind getting raced that way and I don't mind racing that way."

Apparently not.  

Harvick appeared on scene to turn Keselowski back toward the boiling brawl.

"I mean if you are going to run into people all the time you are going to have to fight your own fight, so I helped him get into it," Harvick said. "Obviously it was no-holds barred there with the 2. He was in bulldoze mode."

Whatever the outcome of the penalties--and there will be penalties--you can bet that something will happen on track at Phoenix. It stands to reason that neither Gordon nor Keselowski will make it to Homestead with a chance at the title.