If only for the risk that stock car drivers face each time they leave the paddock and take to the race track, NASCAR ranks at the top of sporting events where teamwork is not left to chance to grow. The concept of team, to be sure, is not lost to NASCAR participants. NASCAR teams even love to tout racing as a team sport. But Saturday's race at the Daytona International Speedway shows a departure from the NASCAR tradition of team sport.
With just 14 of 160 laps recorded in the race, Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin had the lead, and his teammate, Tony Stewart, was second. But as the cars exited turn four, Stewart bumped Hamlin from behind, sending Hamlin to the wall and both drivers to the garages. Also caught up in the wreck, and stripped of a chance to win one of the Nextel Cup series big races, were Dale Earnhardt Jr., Reed Sorenson and Bobby Labonte.
Stewart, who was going for a third straight Pepsi 400 victory, questioned his young prot�g�s concept of team. �I mean he�s a young guy and he wants to be successful, but I don�t know if he knows the definition of �team� right now,� Stewart said.
Informed that Stewart had pointed him as the culprit of the crash, Hamlin shrugged and said he would be the �bigger man� and accept the blame. Hamlin, who is second in Nextel Cup points, added, �I definitely had my foot on the throttle. I think Tony was a little bit closer to me than what he expected or he was closer than he was the lap before.�
Team owner Joe Gibbs, when asked what he thought of his drivers, showed contrition in front of the media. �Really, what the deal is, is that we�ve got two guys who are very competitive, running up front, and we�ve got real good cars,� Gibbs said. �And this is something that can happen.� Just wait until the team meets up in the dugout.
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