HOMESTEAD, Fla. --- Denny Hamlin promised retaliation against Brad Keselowski before Saturday's Nationwide Series race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
He kept his word.
When Tony Stewart sent Juan Pablo Montoya crashing into the fourth turn wall during Sunday's Ford 400, there were no words of reprisal, but everyone knew what was going to happen next.
And it did.
Paybacks have been part of racing long before NASCAR opened for business 62 years ago.
The sport likes the fact its drivers can, most of the time, police their own actions. If you get hit, you have the right to hit back. Then everyone gets back to racing.
Hamlin and Keselowski have had a season-long feud. When Keselowski sent Hamlin spinning a week earlier at Phoenix, NASCAR sat Keselowski down and explained he needed to work harder to get everyone's respect. In other words, they warned him that paybacks are a necessary part of the sport.
"I think everyone has got a little fight in them every now and then, especially when they get done wrong or anything," Hamlin said.
"It's a self-policing sport. NASCAR does a really good job of letting us handle it. They don't want to get involved, but if it's something blatant, they've got to do -- they don't have to, but they feel like they need to do something about it."
Hamlin was parked for one lap as a penalty for knocking Keselowski out of the way. He said it was the best time he's ever spent sitting still, especially after he rallied to finish fourth in the race.
Montoya was penalized for two laps for retaliating against Stewart. Since he spent 30 laps in the garage area for repairs, it was an easy penalty to take.
Justice in racing not only is given, it's often received.
What separates the modern era of drivers and the men who raced before them are the threats. Television cameras now catch every emotion, and that turns frustration into challenges.
If Hamlin hadn't warned Keselowski of a payback, NASCAR might not have been looking so closely at their bump at Homestead. When Hamlin promised everyone he would take Keselowski out, it left NASCAR -- and the driver himself -- with no other options.
Jimmy Spencer, a retired driver with the same kind of volatile temperament, had some legendary run-ins with Dale Earnhardt and Kurt Busch. Spencer and Earnhardt used to beat on each other on a regular basis in the old Busch Series, but neither ran to the media to complain.
In 2002 Kevin Harvick yelled on his radio he was going to crash Coy Gibbs, son of legendary football coach Joe Gibbs, after Gibbs raced him hard at Martinsville. When Harvick turned Gibbs around, NASCAR suspended him for one race.
A year later, the problems between Spencer and Busch escalated to a run-in at the Michigan International Speedway. When the race was over, Busch parked his car behind Spencer's truck to block him from loading up and going home. Spencer used his open hand to push Busch's face, and the blow bloodied his nose.
Spencer was suspended for one race, although in-car radios later proved Busch told his team he was trying to crash Spencer.
Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com
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