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After fireworks flew at Richmond International Raceway last weekend, does your favorite driver in the Chase for the Sprint Cup have a target on his back?
Or perhaps another driver in the field looking to settle a score?
Although Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch rumbled for the umpteenth time, it appears the drivers were simply exhausting a little angst before the playoffs began.
The fellow champions cleared the air after the Richmond race and again on Wednesday night when Johnson and Busch broke bread together at the same table during NASCAR's dinner for the Chase contestants.
Each driver acknowledged that the score was settled prior to the Chase and now it's go time.
"The discussion we had following Richmond, that is the first we have had a discussion like that," Johnson said. "I do feel it is behind and I am entering this Chase and the next 10 races, and really forever on the race track that it is behind us, and certainly hope that it is."
Busch concurred.
"What we do as champion drivers is put those things behind us and go race," Busch said. "That's what we're suppose to do. As a team carrying the Dodge banner and for our sponsors Shell and Pennzoil, we know we have to race hard and race smart."
Despite tangling with both Marcos Ambrose and Travis Kvapil at Richmond, Chaser Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn't anticipate payback down the stretch. He has not reached out to either driver because Earnhardt considered his altercation with Ambrose as just a racing deal and feels that Kvapil "had it coming."
Other drivers such as former champion Matt Kenseth, who was swept up into a melee unintentionally with Regan Smith and Paul Menard, insists he simply lost control of his car on Saturday night. He characterized the "mistake" as driver error.
Kenseth called Smith and sent texts to Menard in order to clear the air before the Chase began. But for a cool customer such as Kenseth, he would prefer not to let the situation linger -- regardless of the timing.
"I think you always try to do that whenever you have a conflict with someone or you make a mistake or even if you are mad and two people get into each other," Kenseth said. "Any time you have conflict you try to resolve that, Chase or no Chase. I don't think it matters. I don't race any different whether I am in the Chase or not in the Chase and I don't expect other people to race me different.
"Paul is a buddy of mine. We have hung out before and he raced at RPM -- which was basically a teammate. We have flown around to places together, gone to appearances together. You feel bad when something happens to anybody, but especially someone you know that is a friend of yours.
"You try to work it out, but not because it is the Chase and you are worried that something might happen to you in the Chase. You would do that anyway, no matter when it was."
Still, for drivers in the Chase, it's a matter of selecting which fight is worth the effort. Kevin Harvick found out the hard way last season about getting involved in someone else's mess.
Harvick had the dominant team in 2010. He led the points for 20 of the first 26 weeks of the regular season -- and was never lower than fifth in the standings. He had a 228-point advantage after Richmond before the standings were reset for the Chase and the No. 29 team was shuffled to third.
Rolling into Dover Downs, the second race of the Chase, comments from Denny Hamlin regarding the integrity of Richard Childress Racing rose Harvick's ire. Harvick retaliated with his chrome horn during practice. The team lost time on the track and appeared sidetracked the rest of the weekend. Harvick qualified 33rd, finished 15th and fell to fifth in points.
While Harvick recovered to finish third for the season, losing his cool in the Chase proved costly. Harvick, who is currently second in the point standings with four wins this season, learned a valuable lesson from the incident.
"You definitely have to pick and choose what you do and you have to be smart," Harvick said. "I think every year that we go through situations and circumstances; I think we get a little bit smarter and we learn how to handle things a little bit different.
"There's a lot of smart people that you're racing against too that have done this for awhile and you have to know how to navigate your way through the game."
Chase newcomer Brad Keselowski has lived a charmed life in the second half of the season. In the final seven races of the regular season, Keselowski posted an average finish of 4.8 and vaulted from 23rd to a solid 11th place in the standings. While the 27-year-old has had his share of run-ins with fellow Chasers Hamlin and Carl Edwards in the past, he'll do his best to avoid confrontation with the title on the line.
Despite being a Chase rookie, Keselowski refuses to be a doormat for the competition.
"I'm not entering the Chase with the approach that I have to beat Carl Edwards 'cause I don't like him or another driver because I don't like him. I don't have that approach," Keselowski said. "I can't speak for others -- how they feel about it -- but it's certainly not part of the equation.
"I try my darnedest not to put myself in the position for (an ensuing feud) to happen. But there are sometimes when you can't. I can tell you one thing, if I ever get in the shoes again like I was in (when Edwards wrecked him) at Atlanta or Gateway, I will take care of business before business takes care of me. Then I won't have to worry about that."
BEST FEET FORWARD
Richard Childress Racing recently made changes to its pit crew roster.
Kevin Harvick, RCR's only Chase driver, will now have front-tire changer Jason Pulver, front-tire carrier Austin Craven, rear-tire changer Dustin Necaise, rear-tire carrier Matt Kreuter and jackman Andrews Childers.
Kyle Turner is joining the No. 31 team as the front-tire changer and John Wallace will gas the car.
NUMBERS GAME
Here's the average finish of the top 12 Chase drivers in the last 10-race stretch before the postseason:
Kyle Busch - 10.1 Kevin Harvick - 12.7 Jeff Gordon - 6.1 Matt Kenseth - 10.9 Carl Edwards - 14.0 Jimmie Johnson - 10.0 Kurt Busch - 15.5 Ryan Newman - 10.2 Tony Stewart - 14.4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 16.8 Brad Keselowski -9.1 Denny Hamlin - 16.4 SAY WHAT?
Even a five-time champion such as Jimmie Johnson has a difficult time describing track conditions, as was the case when on Friday when he attempted to recall last year's event at Chicagoland Speedway.
"There will be a lot of grip out there today -- not sure how it is going to play into our efforts on Saturday for qualifying -- but this might be a good chance for us to get a feel for the race," Johnson said. "Day practices with night races are always tough. It might help close that gap a little since this is an afternoon race. Was this a night race last year? I almost spun out, never mind . . . I knew there was a night thing in my brain for some reason."
SAY WHAT II?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on whether teammates offer an assist in racing: "We're all human beings. So yes, things will happen and things do happen and things probably do go on. As long as human beings are involved, there will be a level of corruption, you know?"
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