Talk with most veteran drivers in NASCAR and ask them in the closing laps of the race that you're leading, who is the last driver you want to see in your mirror?
In my era, the first answer was Dale Earnhardt. The second response typically would be any driver who had never won a race.
So I must confess I was not surprised when I saw Chase Elliott run Brad Keselowski high up the half-mile racetrack while battling for the lead late in the race at Martinsville.
Drivers who have never won often lack technique, but they seldom lack courage and desire.
Denny Hamlin has won 31 times at NASCAR's highest level, he is a Daytona 500 winner, and he is perennial playoff driver. Nothing about his body of work would have suggested what we saw from him as he approached the young leader of Sunday's race with only a handful of turns remaining.
Denny drove as though he had never won before, not attempting to drive under or around the leader, rather only determined to get to his bumper, and once he did he sent Elliott's No. 24 car spinning.
It was so out of character that I reached out to Denny afterward. He's a driver I consider among the best I've ever seen on short tracks.
I asked Denny if he wanted to discuss the circumstances as I was about to go on SportsCenter and do my job. He responded by saying he had never taken out a leader of a race the way he had a few moments earlier. Denny later expressed some regret through Twitter.
- Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) October 30, 2017
So here is the risk for Denny, considering so much was taken from Chase. Will Chase take the same from the driver of the No. 11 going forward? That's obvious, right?
What's not so obvious but etched in my brain from having driven 25 years, is who among the playoff drivers will exploit this opportunity against Denny in these final three races.
You see, that's the real risk.
Denny blatantly wiping out the leader the way he did established the precedent for how he should be raced going forward.
Every driver worth his salt will remember the circumstance and use it to his advantage late in the race if it's required to reach the next round, or perhaps win a championship.
I am not suggesting every driver will, I'm only suggesting every driver has registered how Denny treated the leader late in the race.
While the racing community will be watching closely every time the 11 and 24 cars are within proximity of each other, you should actually look a little more closely as to how the other six playoff drivers treat Denny going forward. Or better yet, what happens to Denny in the closing laps of a race that he is leading and the car trailing him is driven by a driver having never won?
How you behave on the track, how you treat your colleagues has a profound effect on how you are treated going forward.
I believe Denny got caught up in the moment, I believe he lost his composure, I believe he deserves credit for how cleanly he has competed until Sunday at Martinsville.
But my opinion matters little because I no longer compete. Do you understand what I mean?
Which leads me to this: NASCAR did exactly what it should do regarding the situation.
Nothing!
That's because this situation will cleanse itself. It always has and it always will. The most valuable part of this sport is the determination and resolve of its competitors.
NASCAR has a place in writing the rules, policing the rules, establishing and managing the safety, and governing the playing field for the balance of competition.
But there needs to be a separation of church and state when it comes to how drivers treat one another.
For as long as there is NASCAR there will be competitors disagreeing and taking advantage of one another. It's created on the racetrack, and it's often resolved on the racetrack.
This will be as well.