Junior Deserves Props: Handles NASCAR’s Decision with Class

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By Jared Turner

Dale Earnhardt Jr. could have jumped up and down and pouted and blamed NASCAR for his failure to win Sunday’s race at Talladega and earn a spot in the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

After all, NASCAR’s decision to declare Joey Logano the winner after an official video review, seemed somewhat subjective. Earnhardt’s fans obviously agreed, littering the track with debris while Logano performed a post-race burnout. But what about Junior? Did he feel that NASCAR robbed him of a win and the opportunity to advance to the next round of the Chase and keep his title hopes alive? If he did, he wasn’t willing to say so out loud. No, instead of blaming NASCAR, Junior blamed himself, noting that better finishes in the first two races of the Contender Round would have enabled him to advance without winning Sunday’s race at Talladega. It takes a big man to so willingly and so quickly accept the blame for his own failure, but that’s exactly what Earnhardt did on Sunday – and he should be commended for it. Even if his fans disagree.

Social Media Is Dangerous

Immediately after Sunday’s controversial finish, fans, drivers and, yes, even a driver’s spouse lit up the Twitterverse with some pretty harsh commentary on the controversial ending to the CampingWorld.com 500. While Denny Hamlin suggested on Twitter that Kevin Harvick deliberately caused a late wreck, many fans chimed in to agree with him. Some of those same fans then went to the Twitter account of Harvick’s wife, DeLana, to make their voices heard. DeLana, of course, quickly jumped to her husband’s defense. All this begs the question, though, of whether it’s a healthy thing for members of the NASCAR community to spew such vile on Twitter, rather than taking the high road and accepting the results for what they are.