NOTEBOOK: Hamlin understands ...
... But doesn't necessarily agree
Denny Hamlin, who got himself in trouble with NASCAR by being his own man, maintained self-respect by answering inquiries into his $50,000 secret fine with an admirable degree of honesty.
Hamlin said he thought the fine was the result of Twitter posts. He didn’t knuckle under and say he thought the fine was justified and proper, but he said he understood NASCAR’s point of view.
“Whether you agree with it or not, it happened. They’re in control,” said Hamlin of NASCAR. “I’ve always been raised to speak my mind and be maybe too over-opinionated at times.
“We’re all in it together and I understand that. … I understand it, but whether you agree with it or not, we all have to work together to make this all better.”
Their soft spot – Another driver who probably didn’t get brownie points from Imperial NASCAR was Kyle Busch, who seemed to be saying as much as he could, given the sanctioning body’s sanctioning of gag orders.
He was one of few who didn’t avoid the issue of NASCAR trying to fine its drivers secretly.
“You can pretty much say whatever you want whenever you want, but when it comes down to the integrity of the sport and stuff, that’s their soft spot,” said Busch of NASCAR. “If you ever thought you were going to touch something that you shouldn’t, that’s where it’s at.”
Busch quipped that a $50,000 fine ($20,000 reportedly, for Ryan Newman) was “not in my budget, so I’m not going to say anything.”
Two different worlds -- Perhaps Kevin Harvick was fielding a question from an ESPN employee when he said, “Well, I think if you got up here and said ESPN sucked, you'd get fired.”
If he wasn’t talking directly to ESPN, he was wrong. But drivers don’t understand the job of the media. They don’t understand that it’s a matter of capturing what happened, not a matter of promoting the sport. Promotion is the responsibility of others.
Harvick didn’t agree.
“In the end, it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that the sport is going in the right direction,” he said. “ ‘Have at it, boys’ on the race track is different than off the race track, and having open rein on whatever you want to say about the sport because, the last I checked, most of us wouldn't be near as lucky having the jobs that we have if we didn't have this sport.”
Oh, I’d find something.
Almost alone – Carl Edwards, who’s had his share of differences with NASCAR, was about the only driver who seemed to have any regard for how the media operates.
“I’ve criticized this sport and the decisions just like anyone else, but I guess we all just need to remember that (we’re all in this together),” he said. “You guys have to do whatever you have to do, but I do also think that honesty is always the best policy, so you’ve got to call them how you see them.”
You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.
