Step into the Ring: Nascar

Depending on how this season shakes up, Step Into the Ring will look into current rivalries shaping up in the Nascar Season.

Last time around in "Step into the Ring" I talked about Joey Logano and the mess he found himself in at the time. He was in the middle of a feud with Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. Once again Stewart has been all Smoke and no fire (so far) and Denny Hamlin has been sidelined by the injury caused when he and JoLo got into a crash.

The past few weeks no driver has really stepped into the Nascar spotlight when it comes to new rivalries, but Nascar has started to bring up that "line" again.

After the race at Texas Motor Speedway Brad Keselowski came away furious. He claimed that he has

been "targeted" in the garage area. Many believe what he meant by that was that he was targeted by the Hendrick team. In the garage he was right next to the #48 crew (a crew that last year he pointed out that there rear end housings looked weird on the track, that they turned too well) and JoLo was right next to the #24 team. Nascar came down on the Penske Team and took their rear end housings before the race, leaving them to scramble to replace them. A big issue here for many fans (like or dislike BK) is that Nascar struck so quickly. Nascar didn't say they cheated but instead just that it was not in the spirit of the rule. When the Hendrick teams were called out for just about the same thing (being ahead of the learning curve) they got warnings and went 5 or 6 races before they had to change.

Here is the thing, everyone is chasing Hendrick. Everyone who knows Nascar knows that they have been ahead of the curve. Did it just happen that Penske had finally figure it out and found an edge? Maybe, we will know more when information comes out.

On the the important part here though, is this "line" that Nascar has created. Was that line crossed by Penske but somehow it wasn't by Hendrick last year? If so, how many turns and edge's does this line have?

Brad Keselowski vented his frustrations of the week after the race in Texas, ''There's so much stuff going on, you guys (reporters) have no idea - you have no (expletive) idea what's going on,'' he said. ''I can tell you there is no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. The way we've been treated over the last seven days is absolutely shameful. I feel like we've been targeted over the last seven days more than I've ever seen a team targeted in my life.''

On Monday it was released that BK would not be fined for his post race rant. So, this little issue brings that "line" back again. I agree with the decision of not giving him a fine, but I also thought that Denny Hamlin should not have fined. That's where the line gets blurry (or winding).

I have no problem with Nacar drawing a line on some issues, every sport does. I hope that line lets drivers speak their mind though because as fans we love getting to know the drivers we follow. But right now Nascar has a problem with consistancy on the rules and needs to figure it out.

Much scrutiny is coming upon Nascar for many issues outside of racing (NRA 500) so the issue of what you can and can't say needs to be taking care of.

All people griping about disciplinary inconsistency have apparently never read the #NASCAR rulebook. Pretty clear. twitter.com/nascarcasm/sta…
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) April 15, 2013

So step into the ring Nascar, you have a target on you to draw a straight line. Between a 3 year old and you, I will take the 3 year old every time to draw straighter.

**Edit note: Penalties were assessed for the Penske team after I finished this article. So here it is: each team loses 25 points, Crew Chiefs, Car Engineer, and Team Manager for 6 races. Also Crew Chiefs fined $100,000 each. BK moves from 2nd to 4th and JoLo moves from 9th to 14th in points standings. Penske will appeal. Ryan Truex was docked 6 points and will not appeal. (Side note, Ron Hornaday gets a $25,000 fine and 25 points docked while on probation).**

As you took the time to read about Nascar like me, to take your mind elsewhere just for a moment, we still pray for Boston and all of us as a Nation to back our fellow people.

Driver Spotlight: Tony Stewart

This will be Nascar Behind the Wall's first addition of Driver Spotlight. This segment will be a short article about where each driver is right now during the  2013 season. (This time its Tony Stewart)

Owner/Driver Tony Stewart is a hot topic going into Martinsville. Smoke has never been shy when speaking his mind and that showed once again after California. I am all for Nascar drivers speaking their mind, in fact I would encourage it if I was Brian France. I think getting to know drivers on a personal level is a great thing and can help the sport grow even larger then it already is. Though I don't agree with Tony's stance on blocking in the case with Logano, it sure did add even more entertainment to the race. (Don't forget, Kyle Busch won the race, that might be a story)

Past the fact that he made some noise trying to get into a street fight with Logano and throwing a few phantom punches, Tony Stewart has been in the Nascar news for all the wrong reasons. This season has brought smoke but no fire. So far Stewart is 22nd in points with only one top 10. Even worse, his teammates/drivers are 20th (Ryan Newman) and 29th (Danica Patrick).

I can't imagine this is the way Stewart thought his season would start. He and Newman have had a list of car troubles on the season, from cut tires to missed shifts, that have left them in a deep hole looking to get out.

Now Tony isn't the only top tier driver struggling to get going in the 2013 season, Jeff Gordon (18th), Kevin Harvick (15th), and Clint Bowyer (13th) all sit outside the top 12, but that makes this climb out of the cellar even more difficult. With so many drivers outside looking in and the fact that in Chase history at this point 9 of the 12 drivers in the standings will get into the Chase, it doesn't look good for Smoke.

What is slowing Tony down? Stewart has a full time job trying to get Danica all the advice she needs to grow as a driver on the Nascar level. Most tracks she will come across this season she will have little or no experience at and I'm sure Stewart will try and give her tools to succeed.

Stewart also has to take the time to help Ryan Newman get out of his funk and keep his car on the track. Could the slow start of the Stewart-Haas season be bringing him unneeded stress that he can't handle? Is the full time three car team just too much to manage while he is trying to dig out of a hole? Last, will Stewart continue to take out his frustration on Joey Logano?

The next five races will be huge for Tony Stewart and his race team so it will be interesting to see if he can turn it around into the Chase. A high finish at Martinsville would be a good start.

Tony Stewarts early season stats. (Through the first 5 races)

• Daytona- 41st, Qualified 13th
• Phoenix- 8th, Qualified 6th
• Las Vegas- 11th, Qualified 9th
• Bristol- 31st, Qualified 8th
• Fontana- 22nd, Qualified 8th

Average Finish 22.6, Average Start 8.8
Only lead laps at one track, 18 at Fontana
7th and 27th finish's last year at Martinsville
3 Career wins at Martinsville, last one October 30th, 2011.

**4/28/13 Update: Smoke still struggling through the 2013 season and sits 21st in the Points Standings. After every race it looks like he will need to get some wins and find a way to stay in the top 20 to make the Chase. It looked as though he would get a quality finish at Richmond but Kurt Busch bumped him for a pass and Smoke never came back, falling from a top 10 finish to 18th. Once again he took out frustrations for a poor finish on a fellow driver, this time Kurt.**

**6/2.13 Update: Smoke had been continuing his struggling ways going into Nascars first stop at Dover International Speedway. The Monster Mile brought him better luck and Smoke came away with his first win of the 2013 season. The win not only moved Stewart up 4 places into 16th but if the Chase started after Dover he would get the Wild Card spot with the lone win. The win was the first win for the Stewart-Haas Racing team this year and it also put Smoke ahead of teammate Ryan Newman for the first time in awhile in the points. Will one win be enough to keep the Wild Card spot or will Stewart need more? I will keep tracking this story and his Driver Spotlight maybe one I review at the end of the season.**

**8/9/13 Update: Well a twist in the season story for Tony Stewart has just been thrown into 2013. This past week he was involved in a sprint car wreck that left him with a broken leg and needing multiple surgeries. What we know as of now, Smoke is out for at least Watkins Glen, and he is out for at least a few weeks after the Glen. What is not known, will he get back in the car before the Chase, and will he have enough time if he does to find another victory and get a WC spot (if he even gets back in time to salvage a top 20). It doesn't look like Smoke will have a chance at the Chase this year as we saw with Hamlin that it is just too tough to miss races and still compete.  It looks like this Driver Spotlight may come to a close early this season as we now know that TRUE summer hot streak will never come about. Previous to this injury he had been getting on a bit of a run and finding some top 10's.  This will really go down as a lost season for Stewart and one that is remembered with lots of wreck while he was out of his Sprint Cup car and also with a lot of news with his driver and teammate Danica Patrick in her debut season.**