The rivalries of today are not and never will be like the rivalries of years past. That’s a simple fact. If you think they can be, then you need to wake up. It’s not going to happen. The sport has changed too much. You’re not going to see Petty-Allison duel like they did years ago when they drove and beyond. Their rivalry continued after they were retired and wasn’t until years later they became friends.

 

 

You aren’t going to see that type of rivalry or even Petty-Pearson because you don’t see a couple of guys dominate on a regular basis and run 1-2 so often. Petty-Pearson ran 1-2 63 times. They battled often. Nowadays, those battling for wins changes.

 

 Plus back then, there was more at stack for the drivers. Lose a race and that’s money lost. With limited sponsorship and little TV money, purse funds were what drivers and teams relied on to run. Today, a driver loses a spot or two, yes, it’s money out of their pocket but they don’t feel it as much. Back then it was money for the dinner table. Now, it’s money for jet fuel.

 

 

Granted, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski gave fans something to talk about in the Nationwide series this past season. They had numerous run-ins and when Keselowski spun Hamlin at Phoenix, Hamlin had had enough and said he would wreck Keselowski the following weekend in the season finale at Homestead. True to his word, Hamlin did just that.

 

 

Will it go any further? A new year starts a new chapter. Yes, Hamlin will continue to race Keselowski like Keselowski races him but if Keselowski backs off a bit, then Hamlin likely will give him some room and the fireworks will end.

 

 

And what about that Juan Pablo Montoya-Tony Stewart incident at Homestead where both wrecked each other – first Stewart’s move put Montoya into the wall and after repairs Montoya went out and wrecked Stewart. A rivalry among these guys would be tremendous for fans. Both are vocal, not afraid to share their opinion and good. So what happened a couple of weeks later in Las Vegas for the Banquet? They got along. At one time, as Stewart talked to the media, Montoya came up to him and straightened Stewart’s tie and they laughed. This came after Montoya had said he had talked to Stewart the day before at an event at Vegas and they laughed about the big deal everyone was making of the Homestead incident. Not much of a rivalry there.

 

 

Now, let’s be clear. When they get on the track, it will be serious business. Again, they know you race a driver how he races you. Stewart knew he had one coming at Homestead after Montoya returned. Now, they’ll race each other hard but going beyond that, it’s hard to see. Tony has said in the past how he doesn’t try to get too controversial because then he has to spend the next few days dealing with the mess. Tony still will speak up when he feels he needs to but he’s not going to fan the flames of a rivalry because he doesn’t want such things to consume between races when he has more to do as a car owner these days.

 

 So, can you see rivalries? Yes. There are some although most of them are likely hidden from you. They’re between mid-pack drivers or a frontrunner and some midpack guy who always seems to be in his way. They’re more annoyances than rivalries (although some of the annoyed drivers might disagree).

 

Yes, it would be something for the sport if there were two top-running drivers who hated each other so much that that even had a picture of each other on their dashboard to further fuel them. With more cars in the mix for wins then 25 years ago or more (when rivalries still played a key role in the sport), it’s hard to see the same guys running for wins week after week. Plus, that’s a lot of work to hate each other so intensely. And will a sponsor want a driver to be involved in something like this? It might not match the company’s reputation. Just imagine if Dale Earnhardt Sr. had been sponsored by someone other than Wrangler and GM Goodwrench. It’s not hard to imagine some other sponsors wanting Earnhardt to pull back on his aggressiveness. Fortunately for the sport, he didn’t have those sponsors and gave fans what they wanted. Who is there now to do that?

 

 Denny Hamlin recently discussed rivalries in light of his feud/rivalry with Keselowski this season. Here’s some of what he said:

 

 “Who wants to see boxing match or something with guys that are best friends?’’ Hamlin said. “The rivalries are what made this sport years and years ago. The guys that, “Hey, he took him out last week, we gotta watch.’ That’s what I grew up on on short-track racing. I would live for the weeks where the week before someone took someone else out and now they’re starting right next to each other and you know that something is going to happen. I think a little bit of that has gone away from our sport. Ultimately, at Homestead alone, you saw some of those rivalries show back up?’’

 

 

ME: Yes, but can those be maintained? At a short track, if I knock you out, I’ve taken money out of your pocket that you need. If I do it in Cup, you’re going to lose some money but realistically you’re probably not going to feel it as much as you would at the short track, plus we’ve probably done three commercials together (during the year) and so we see each other and we’re having fun. How can a rivalry exist when money is not a factor and, let’s be honest, most of these guys in Cup get along with each other relatively well.

 

 

HAMLIN: “That’s the thing. Rivalries are only going to be so vicious because we have to work with each other every week. We’re neighbors in the motorhome lot. What are you going to do just avoid the person, not ever look at them and things like that? That takes way too much effort. It does. It takes way too much effort to be mad at someone. To me our rivalries are week to week. They’re really not that long standing because we do so much stuff together.’’

 

 

Are rivalries a lost art in NASCAR? Or do fans need to adjust how such conflicts should be viewed?