Would a teammate throw away a win to help another make Chase?

There's been a lot of talk this morning on if a teammate would help another one out by pulling over for position _ or even the win _ to help that teammate make the Chase.

The issue grew last week at the NHRA's U.S. Nationals when John Force was accused of losing a race on purpose to a teammate so his teammate could make NHRA's version of the Chase.

So what about Saturday night? There's a lot on the line in the Chase and a lot of big names (and big sponsors) trying to get in.

"I won't say that people won't do it,'' Jimmie Johnson said. "I just know with the experience I've had at Hendrick Motorsports, regardless of the situation, it's not been discussed or even considered. I think if we drew something for Mark, I think Mark would get out of the car and whoop some (rear). He wants to go in there and earn it on his own. I don't think he would tolerate something like that. Not saying again that teams aren't talking about it. I know we are not talking about it. The other part of it, and this would weigh on my mind, is we race against these guys every week and what comes around, goes around. You don't want to control fate like that in a sense. I don't think I could have that on my conscious just to throw a race. I couldn't.''

Juan Palbo Montoya on the same issue said: "What's wrong with that?'' when he was told of what John Force did.

"I think you're going to an extreme,'' Montoya told a media member on if someone would take a competitor out to help a teammate make the Chase. "There's always a line where I think a teammate can help. One thing is helping but another thing is hurting somebody trying to help. I think that's crossing the line. I'll give an example, if Kyle Busch needs to go by (teammate Denny) Hamlin and Hamlin is winning the race and if Kyle wins the race he gets in the Chase ... Denny will know that he needs to get out of the gas to help his teammate. I'll guarantee you that's been talked about with the team. They'd be crazy if they haven't.''

"I'm sure the teammates are going to do whatever they can to help,'' Brian Vickers said. "If you're running for a Chase spot and you catch a teammate, you hope to think that he would at least let you go.''

So, what do you think? Would you have a problem if one driver let a teammate by to win the race so that teammate could make the Chase? Is that good business? Or bad racing?

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.