Formula 1 is not the only racing realm with hyped teammate feud; NASCAR Nextel Cup is also part of the big battle arena.
The key to why teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are dueling for NASCAR’s Nextel Cup in a friendly way, while teammates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth are feuding and imploding in the Chase, lies on a grimy floor, Los Angeles Times reported.
Rick Hendrick, father of today’s multi-car NASCAR team concept, learned that if you’re going to put two or more drivers in the same outfit, you’d better see to it yourself that personalities mesh from the outset, and that they get along all the time.
But back to this week’s tempest. At about the same time Edwards was manhandling and arguing with Kenseth on the pit road at Martinsville, Va., on Sunday, Gordon was in Victory Lane congratulating Johnson, to whom he’d just lost the race and lost ground in the Chase.
Johnson and Gordon had "leaned on each other," Johnson said, in driver-speak for rubbing and banging fenders, all race as they battled for the win. But Johnson won and Gordon finished third, and that was that. It was over.
Viral marketing created media avalanche. Edwards went onto NASCAR’s weekly teleconference in full apology mode. But in apologizing, he exposed deeper, festering wounds at Roush, and his teammates followed up by ripping open more. "I don’t think Matt has voluntarily said two sentences to me in the last 6 months," Edwards said.
Biffle told ESPN.com: "You can’t act like that." McMurray piled on Edwards via ESPN TV.
"I’ve got Jimmie Johnson calling me every time I win to say, ‘Good job,’ " he added. “My teammates aren’t the ones doing that. And I’m just as guilty. I haven’t been as happy for their successes as I could be. Hendrick Motorsports, and those people we compete against, do a better job of having team spirit than we’ve done lately at Roush Fenway.”
Kyle Busch, who threatened to become a real problem child as a lame duck after Hendrick, in June, signed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to replace Busch next year. But Hendrick has continued to treat Busch so well that he’s emerged as about the nicest lame duck you’ll ever see on a NASCAR team. At Charlotte two races ago, with Busch was sitting right on Gordon’s bumper during a late caution. Hendrick’s soft voice came on the radio and calmed both drivers.
On Edwards’ teleconference, part of his response to a question about Hendrick harmony vs. Roush discord was this: "Your question is, really, ‘Is Rick Hendrick doing a better job than Jack Roush?’ and I don’t think it’s that simple."
What do you think?