Penalizing excellence, rewarding stupidity

By DAVID GREEN

Can you really blame Carl Edwards for being angry? After all, what he had done was a good thing, if not a brilliant thing: He made an evasive move, a move in which he had microseconds to react, and avoided a catastrophe.

In doing so, except in the sense that he kept from tearing up his own car and several others, he gained nothing. He passed two cars that were slowing to report to pit road. He got passed by two or three others who, like him, had not intended to pit.

And for this, he earned a penalty from NASCAR.

Meanwhile, during Sunday's Budweiser Shootout, another driver hits one competitor from behind, nearly causing a crash, and cuts off another competitor, nearly causing another crash. For the first misbehavior, NASCAR sends out instructions for the driver to "settle down." The response to the second incident? Deafening silence.

Edwards' maneuver came as competitors raced off Turn 4. Some of them intended to go to pit road for their mandatory green-flag pit stops during the second segment of the race. Things got bottled up, and Edwards was about to plow into Jimmie Johnson's car when he made a quick left turn onto the wide, paved apron along the short chute.

In doing so, of course, he crossed The Yellow Line.

Ooooooh. He crossed The Yellow Line.

Never mind that he prevented what could have been a major accident; he crossed The Yellow Line.

The problem, NASCAR, is not that drivers cross The Yellow Line. The problem is that their out-of-control blocking tactics encourage each other to drive so far off line. Enforce a prohibition on blocking, and see how many drivers purposely get so close to the grass -- except in emergency situations, such as the one Carl Edwards faced Sunday.

Edwards did exactly what he should have done. To do anything else would have been to call into question his judgment, his concentration, his good sense, his vision, his competence as a driver.

But in doing the right thing, he crossed The Yellow Line.

So, he was ordered to pit road for a drive-through penalty. At first, he refused to comply. When Edwards finally reported to pit road, surprise! -- he was busted for going too fast during his drive-through. The consequence? Another drive-through penalty.

Perhaps it would have been better for everybody, in the long run, if he'd called NASCAR's bluff and just stayed on the track. He would have finished in the same spot -- last among the cars still running at the finish -- to which he was relegated by the penalty.

Certainly, it would not have been better for Edwards with regard to Sunday's Bud Shootout, possibly for an even longer period of time. NASCAR would have lowered the boom on him for such disrespect. His scorecard would have been pulled long before the checkered flag waved and he would have been fined. His Roush Racing team would have had lots of interesting times in the inspection process for weeks, months, maybe years to come. NASCAR has an even longer memory than Jimmy Spencer.

But somebody needs to emphatically point out the lack of common sense demonstrated by NASCAR officials Sunday.

One of the most blustering and arrogant drivers on the track gets a milquetoast admonition; one of the most brilliant gets sent to detention.

Am I taking notes from this, to put to use in disciplinary matters in my English classroom? Yes. I'm filing the notes under "What Not To Do."