Yahoo Autos This Flying Tackle at a NASCAR Race Was Nothing Short of Amazing
Cole Custer (his actual name) and John Hunter Nemecheck (also not a fictional character) opened up new career paths after demonstrating their obvious admiration for the WWE last weekend. The two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers, as you've likely seen by now, went full Ricky Bobby and Jean Girard at the final corner on the last lap of the NCWTS race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The young gunslingers robbed us of the most logical outcome-running and diving across the finish line, but more than made up for that oversight by engaging in an impromptu wresting match.
Custer (still a real person) channeled his inner Roman Reigns (a fictional character) and went for Reigns' signature WWE finisher, a Spear, but with Nemecheck (also still real) getting antsy in anticipation of the big hit, Custer made a mid-air modification and applied Randy Orton's (a real person depicting a fictional character) finisher, the RKO.
Thanks to the Internet, we have WWE commentary added to the trackside rumble which, if I'm honest, is something NASCAR seriously needs to consider for all of its races going forward.
STICKING WITH THE NASCAR THEME
2014 Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick levelled his pit crew after they lost the Californian 18 spots on pit lane and a shot at winning last weekend, and with their collective underperformance in mind, it's hard to blame Harvick for losing his temper.
Here's a selection of quotes from Bakersfield's finest after finishing second at Darlington:
"Our team in the garage did a great job. They brought the fastest race car to the track once again and we just didn't do a good job on pit road and gave it away."
"We started 12th and eighth and sixth and we had a great race car all night just got to thank everybody in the shop and in the garage for putting the race cars under us. We can't just continuously shoot ourselves in the foot every few pit stops."
"Oh, it's just the same old thing. You get in position where you bring a dominant car. The guys in the shop and the guys in the garage are doing a great job, and the guys on pit road are doing a terrible job. You get in a position to win races, and they continually step on their toes and don't make it happen. You're not going to win races like that. I'm really proud of the car that we brought tonight and the things that we've done on the race track, but you can only make so many excuses for pit road."
"Yeah, we had a great car. The guys in the garage and at the shop continue to do a great job, and we continue to give it away on pit road. Pretty much summed up the night. Just the dominant car and just three bad pit stops on pit road."
"Yeah, I really don't know. We have championship cars and we're just mediocre on pit road. It's kind of been that way for a few years, and they've moved some things around, but it just seems like it's just week after week after week. You have a couple good weeks here and there and every once in a while you just put together a day, but they just can't put together a whole day on pit road right now."
"I'm over being a cheerleader. Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road, and cheerleading hasn't really been working. You've got to get after it on pit road and do your job."
As the old adage goes, "Win as a team, lose as a… 'hey, it's their fault!'"
Harvick, a media darling, exercised his right to vent and point fingers, and did a damn fine job to place the full blame on his pit crew whenever he was asked.
On the flipside, we have the all too common occurrence where a pit crew executes a flawless stop only to watch their driver make a boneheaded move and surrender 18 spots or more. It could be a solo crash, hitting another car and pitting for repairs, a spin, or another act of extreme negligence behind the wheel, and those driver-centric shortcomings tend to happen at quite a few races each season.
Based on NASCAR's 36-race calendar, it's only natural for a driver to screw up six or seven times and ruin the work put in by the rest of the team. It's a good thing NASCAR's reporters don't interview tire changers and refuelers after a race because their level of honesty might put Kevin to shame. . .
"Harvick? That jackass? We've gotten nine hours of sleep in three days while the champ over there was snoring in his million-dollar motor coach, then we aced every pit stop, but that moron decided ripping half the panels off the car while fighting over 17th position was the best way to get us into Victory Lane.
"Not only did we lose, he embarrassed all of us. Hell, I'm embarrassed for him! You call that driving? Glad he gets to climb out of the wreck and leave it up to us to fix. And I hope he enjoys the flight home on his private jet because he sure earned it today."
It goes both ways, Kev.
DAMN, PT
Marco Andretti is mired in his worst IndyCar season to date. Naturally, Paul Tracy-Canada's least filtered IndyCar champion-turned-commentator-made sure to pile on during Sunday's broadcast from Watkins Glen.
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