The Red-Necks are fighting again. It’s NASCAR

Red-Neck fighting

The post-race fight between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday has been "discussed on national TV and radio shows, and is surely going to remain the No. 1 topic among race fans" going into Sunday’s Quicken Loans 500 at Phoenix Int'l Raceway, but the question lingers whether it is a "good thing for the sport," according to Drew Davison of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM.

Instead of "talking about Jimmie Johnson winning the fall race at TMS for the third consecutive year and playing spoiler in this year’s Chase, the only thing people seem to care about is the full-fledged brawl that broke out." It marked the "second time in four weeks that a post-race altercation overshadowed the actual race," and TMS President Eddie Gossage "acknowledged the sport is walking a fine line between real and manufactured emotions."

Gossage: "There’s some good in stuff like this, but you can’t do it every week. From a credibility standpoint, you just can’t do that every week. But tensions are so high, the nerves are so raw and the stakes are so huge that anytime you apply pressure, you get a pushback and response. That’s what we’re seeing because the Chase is putting pressure on people who haven’t experienced this kind in our sport before."

He added, "I don’t know that we’re looking for fights and I think NASCAR is sometimes unfairly labeled as, ‘Look at those rednecks going at it.’ But I guess that’s too much to ask for anyway" FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

PEOPLE ARE TALKING: ESPN.com's Brant James wrote NASCAR "is a spectacle again, in all the right and wrong connotations of the word." Whether it will "translate into commerce and the wonder days stakeholders seemed to once consider perpetual remains to be seen." But "mainstream folk are talking about NASCAR again, or at least pausing to watch the melee videos, on morning chat shows between local traffic and the national weather forecast, and on sports channels alike."

If this is the "vision" NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France "set for the sport when he approved the manic new iteration of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, well struck, sir." ESPN.com

In Orlando, George Diaz writes this is "exactly what NASCAR wants," even with officials "considering 'penalties' to the offending parties." Keselowski "isn’t committing a crime," and instead is "driving up ratings and interest." Diaz: "What’s not to like?" ORLANDO SENTINEL

Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw said the fights are "getting people engaged." Columnist Kevin Blackistone said, "People are tuning in now, talking about this. It's a transcendent moment for NASCAR. They couldn’t tell you who's leading in the points race, but they could tell you who's getting into a fight." Around The Horn, ESPN