To listen to the reaction of Jeff Gordon’s nudge of Dale Jarrett on the last lap of the Jiffy Lube 300 last weekend at Loudon, New Hampshire, one might have believed that a capital crime had been committed. To make matters worse, Gordon was involved in a controversial incident with Rusty Wallace, which according to some, was a result of a play drawn up on a whiteboard some 15 months ago as an act of revenge; then masterfully played out at just the right moment. Depending on your allegiance, Jeff Gordon is now being labeled as a dirty driver, or the rest of the drivers are not giving Jeff his fair share of track room. If some folks are to be believed, the remainder of this season is going to be a bloodbath, in which Gordon and Jarrett and Wallace are going to take turns putting each other into the wall, pour sugar in the haulers fuel tanks, and egg each others homes.

CUT! Roll credits. The last time I checked, this series was still sanctioned by NASCAR and ran by Bill France Jr. and Mike Helton. This isn’t a show put on by the WWF and Jim McMahon. These guys are professionals, and their livelihood depends greatly on the mutual trust they must have in each other at 180 miles per hour, side by side in the corners. The next time Rusty is on the inside of Gordon, which will probably be the next race at Pocono, don’t expect him to turn the 24 car around in the middle of the tunnel turn. For those of you looking forward to it happening, sorry to disappoint you. On the last lap, if Gordon is a spot ahead of Jarrett, don’t hold your breath waiting for that shot in the rear and the "punt and pass" move. It probably isn’t going to happen.

So, what happened in New England? To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. Whatever it was, it was contagious. Drivers that normally stay clean, were involved at different parts of the race, in numerous altercations. Maybe the fact that the cautions were spread out far enough to keep a lot of cars on the lead lap, and most of the cars off the lead lap were only one lap back, and raced very hard hoping to regain it had something to do with it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the cars were going faster than they ever had before, and were just a little over their heads. Maybe the news that established teams like Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott have received word that their longtime sponsors would not be renewing their contracts had some people driving more aggressively than normal, hoping for the great finish that would enable them to keep their sponsors. I’m not going to pretend to know what happened, but when you see that much contact in the first ten laps of an event, you have to guess it’s gonna be a long day. For whatever reason it was, there was a lot of bumping and beating, and the fireworks didn’t end with the checkered flag, as Tony Stewert reported traded paint with Ernie Irvan on the cool down lap, and Jarrett and Gordon were involved with an uncharacteristic shouting match.

Are we going to see a weekend like this again? Probably, when the situation and circumstances are right. Does it make for exciting racing? Ask Rusty Wallace and Dave Blaney, or Ken Schrader what they think. I would suspect that most drivers would rather have a race like they had at Michigan over what they had at Loudon yesterday. Can anything be done to prevent it, or at least lessen the chances of another race like that again? Sure. When was the last time the black flag was used in a Winston Cup event for rough driving? It’s been awhile. Certainly, using the black flag is a judgement call to be made by NASCAR. There were several drivers using a lot of bumper and bending a lot of sheet metal making moves to improve their track position during the race that never directly resulted in a wreck. That would have to increase the frustration level of some of the drivers. What if at one point in the race, you are driving along when wham, a car trying to pass you decides to force the issue and nudge you out of the way, almost wrecking you in the process. Then,ten laps later, you come up on a car that is slower than you are, but you are having problems getting around. Chances are you are going to remember the move put on you just five minutes earlier and use your own bumper to make a hole. Remember, I’m not saying that happened, just saying what if. Now, what if on the first move, NASCAR through the black flag and made the offender come to the pits for a stop and go. Would you be as inclined to do the same thing to another driver, knowing that you would face the same penalty? Probably not. I am not suggesting that NASCAR black-flag every car that makes contact with another car out on the track. I do believe that there have been situations where it should have been thrown over the last few seasons, but was not. If it was, there would be a whole lot less bumping going on out there, and lets face it; it is hard enough to drive those things competitively without having another one slam into you.