Was it me, or did Denny Hamlin seem like a slightly petulant child after tonights race? OK, so Brad Keselowski was racing you hard, and maybe he wasn't giving you the room you thought you deserved. But to claim when you get out of your NATIONWIDE car (flanked by NASCAR officials by the way)  that the problem was "I think it is just him racing in the Nationwide series not having any Cup experience learning how to let guys go at times" is a bit silly. 

Denny...Brad IS a Nationwide driver. Not a Cup driver.

And then to keep digging, Denny went on to say "There were several places in the race that I had him cleared....except for maybe two inches...instead he hangs on my right rear bumper quarter, and then goes into the corner right at my door, and that #### drivers off, especially gusy that know patience a little bit better than that."

Isn't that called RACING? And you are claiming that you are the prime example of patience?????

And then to admit on national TV "He picked my back wheels up in one and two, then came up beside me...so I retaliated..you know, you throw a rock and I'm gonna throw a concrete block back, so you are gonna have to deal with it."

Tsk tsk. Denny, you do NOT admit you retaliated under yellow on national TV. Not if you want to keep the money you just won and the points that car has earned so far this year.

As Brad's team owner said "There ain't no excuse for that".  Dale Junior just seemed dumbfounded as to what had happened at the end of the race. I don't think he was the only one.

Now, I have no idea who threw the first punch post race. Maybe a Navy SEAL who was on hand to cheer the 88 team on wasn't happy with Denny's "retaliation" and decided to sneak over and try to take out the 20 team one by one (SEALS are good at that.....). It has been a while since we had a good fight in the pits (I think the 9 and 20 teams were the last ones to toss punches at each other a few years back), however there is no excuse for two teams to be exchanging fists, regardless of what happened on the track. If the 88 crew tossed the first punch, then shame on them, especially considering the fact that 1: they represent the Navy and 2: it is Memorial Day weekend and considering the meaning of the weekend they should act with more respect of who they represent. My guess is that Junior will be having a talk with them at some point tonight about that lapse in judgement. He all three of his cars in the top 10, and instead of focusing on celebrating that feat, he now has to straighten out a melee in the pits.

Just another reminder that no matter how mature these young men think they are...they are still young men, and from time to time, they act like it.

Why is it that the thought of Joe Gibbs racing going to Toyota and Dale Junior not making the Chase seem to make some fans believe the world is coming to an end? Oh, the sport must surely be coming to a grinding halt because of both of these events. It must be a sure sign of the apocolypse that they are both happening at the same time. Right.

As Loren Wallace says in those Geico ads :"Whatever".

Toyota has been in NASCAR for coming up on 5 years now. This season, they moved from just the trucks to all three main series. Last time I checked...they hadn't taken over the world, and as a matter of fact, their teams in the Cup series have been more a laughing stock than stock car. Hardly the boogy man many fans thought they would be. Now, they are taking steps to try and give themselves some credibility by striking a deal with Joe Gibbs racing. How could Gibbs betray GM and go turncoat? How dare the beloved coach fall in with those evil Japs. It's all about the money...has to be.

Well, sure, it's about money. You don't get into NASCAR to lose money. Ask the guys who used to work for Ginn Racing. You get in to make money, and the way to do that is to win races.

Toyota was lucky to see the finish line this year. Their engine program has sucked at best. Teams have failed to make races, and when they have, the engines have tended to die well before the checkers flew. They needed someone who knows how to build a better engine, and a team that knows how to win. They saw Joe Gibbs, and they went a callin.

Gibbs, on the other hand, is always going to be the bridesmaid in the Chevy camp. Rick Hendrick is always going to be the bride. He has the manpower, he has the championships. he has GM's unabiding love. Gibbs saw the fact that if they stayed with Chevy, they would never be the number one dog with the manufacturer. So, why not find someone who is going to love you for who you are and what you already have?

Fans are going on and on about how they can't see Tony Stewart driving a foreign car. Um...have they forgotten how he has openly said he would consider going back to the IRL if he had the chance to win the Indy 500? The IRL has one kind of car, and one only: Honda. And the IRL is American as NASCAR. Would Tony prefer to stay with Chevy? I'm sure he would. Is he going to throw down his helmet and refuse to drive for Joe Gibbs because they are going to Toyota? he is looking at being the number one Son with Toyota...their favorite child. It will no longer be gordon, Johnson, then Stewart in the pecking order of manufacturers children....it will be Stewart, Hamlin, Busch, then the guys who have been working to make Toyota into a race team this year. If anyone would be pissed about this move, I'd guess it would be someone like Brian Vickers or Dave Blaney or David Reutimann. They have been driving their butts off this year for the manufacturer, and next year, they will go to second tier teams in their own class because of JGR joining their ranks.

I'm not even going into the whole where the cars are built deal. That is a fight not worth fighting, and unwinnable to someone who doesn't bleed Ford Blue or have Chevy tattooed on their body.

As for Junior....just because he doesn't make the chase and won't drive the 8 next year doesn't mean the earth will stop spinning. Junior isn't even the one making a big fuss over the 8...it is his fans. I think I heard him say ONCE that he wouldn't mind if he had the 8, but he doubted he would get it because of his stepmother. When it was announced it wasn't coming with him, he said he really hadn't expected it to. It was his fans that went off the deep end. he actually sent out a plea last week for the fans to leave Teresa alone, they have villified her so much over the decision not to give him the 8. Junior is ready to move on and look ahead to next  year. I think the fans ought to follow suit. Cheer the guy on, root for him to finish out the year much like Tony did last year...out of the chase but winning like crazy. I promise, the earth will still be rotating Sunday morning when everyone gets up and he isn't one of the 12 in the chase.

He'll be back and in an HMS car next year. I'd count on him being there at this time a year from now. ;-)