In racing you race others how you would want them to race you. Sound familiar? Well you could say it is the “golden rule” of racing; similar to “you treat others as you want to be treated.” Drivers discussed the incident between Kyle Busch and David Reutimann. They sit seventh and 18th in the standings, respectively. Busch feels that Reutimann races him really hard, way too often. "I race guys how they race me and I've always gotten raced really, really hard against David Reutimann and I've gotten no room, no slack, no nothing," Busch said. Busch has had his share of on track run-ins with Brad Keselowski, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Todd Bodine to name a couple. Drivers don’t forget how you race them, nor do they let you get away with it after awhile. If you race a driver the wrong way or have history with a driver, payback could be at any moment. It doesn't mean they will out right try and wreck you but it could be they race you just a little bit harder. Making passing them just a little bit harder then maybe the guy in front of you would. Jeff Gordon made more than a few drivers mad at him for his aggressive driving at Sonoma in June. He recognizes that he has a few paybacks coming his way and he can’t control when and just how severe the take out could be. “I go back to Sonoma and some things that happened there and I fully expect whether it happens this weekend, next weekend or whenever and those guys, the 19 (Elliott Sadler) and the 56 (Martin Truex Jr.), they’ve been racing me really, really hard. Bumps and taps and little things here and there. They haven’t just clean taken me out. If it happens, you’re not going to hear me say much about it.” You get raced by other drivers how you race them. This is a sport where your finish or title hopes can lie on someone else. The drivers not in the Chase should not and will not race you any different than they did the first 26. On Sunday there are 43 on the track and Chasers aren’t entitled to a gentlemen’s agreement with 31 other drivers, especially in the Chase. Matt Kenseth said on Friday,"I think you race the same all year. I think you should race everybody the same whether they're in the Chase or not in the Chase. I think you try to show people respect all year because everybody has the same right to be out there, whether they're first in points or last in points." Every driver out there wants to win the race or get the best finish possible. They all have owners and sponsors to answer to. Some could say the drivers outside the Chase have much more on the line than those in the Chase. Gordon brought up his battle with Ryan Newman last week at Kansas, who raced him hard late in the race for position. “I had a heck of a battle with Ryan Newman last week and I felt like I was a lot faster than him. Had we got by him, it would have gotten us a couple extra spots. But he’s racing for position, racing for things that are important to him and he didn’t want to budge or give up on that so I respected that.” Every driver comes into the final races of the year with different agendas but the one thing all 43 drivers want on Sunday is respect. If you don’t respect everyone the consequence could cost you dearly. Thanks to www.catchfence.com for the quotes.
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