NASCAR to reevaluate ‘Boys Have At It’ policy

NASCAR’s vice president of competition and racing development, Robin Pemberton

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NASCAR officials plan to re-evaluate its “boys have at it" policy going into the 2012 season and could strengthen its stance against drivers retaliating on the track.

NASCAR loosened the reins on drivers in 2010, allowing them to police themselves on the track and retaliate when they believed another driver had intentionally wrecked them.

The incidents intensified in 2011, and NASCAR officials acknowledged that things might have gotten out of hand near the end of the season.

“We reflect on that at the end of the year and the season hasn’t started yet, but there are some things that a group of us will sit down and talk about, and that is one of them," NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Thursday.

“There were times that it got out of hand, and we’re going to discuss what out of hand really is moving forward."

NASCAR officials came down hard on Kyle Busch in November for retaliating against Ron Hornaday Jr. in a truck series race at Texas. Busch turned Hornaday into the wall under caution after the two had a run-in under green.

Busch, who had been on probation earlier in the year and was involved in a yearlong feud with Kevin Harvick and his teams, was parked during the race at Texas and suspended for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races that weekend.

Pemberton said Busch’s actions crossed the line for two reasons: he wrecked Hornaday under caution; and he hooked him in the right rear bumper, sending Hornaday’s truck nose-first into the wall.

“It’s the type of retaliation that you want to look at," Pemberton said. “That happened under caution, that’s one thing. Green-flag retaliation is another thing. Each case is different enough that we have got to sit down and get our heads around it as a group.

“The one thing that sticks in people’s mind is hooking a guy in the right rear. Giving a guy a bumper shot and doing different things, there are differences in that. But the thing that becomes more clear to those of us who are discussing these matters, when you hook a guy in the right rear, that’s something that needs to get looked at." Scenedaily.com