{"id":916912,"date":"2026-10-01T19:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916912\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:04:11","slug":"nascar-leaning-into-more-passion-from-drivers-embracing-old-school-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916912\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR leaning into more passion from drivers, embracing old-school edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR\u2019s decision to not penalize drivers Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar after their post-race fight at Bristol \u201cwas another example of NASCAR turning back to its roots,\u201d according to Dave Skretta of the AP. The decision was \u201cseen by many as NASCAR embracing a \u2018Boys, have at it\u2019 attitude\u201d that had been displaced for a generation by a \u201csqueaky clean corporate image that somehow seemed out of place.\u201d NASCAR CEO Steve O\u2019Donnell said on former driver Kevin Harvick\u2019s podcast, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion.\u201d Driver Joey Logano said, \u201cwe\u2019ve kind of gone that direction quite a bit here recently. It seems like the American pride is definitely in the game, and I feel like the drivers, the brands they have right now, are more that direction than they have been in the past.\u201d While the organization \u201cdoesn\u2019t condone colorful language, it isn\u2019t exactly punishing anyone for it.\u201d It is \u201calmost rewarding them for it.\u201d At the start of the playoffs, NASCAR \u201cunveiled a virtual \u2018swear jar\u2019 in which $5 is added every time a curse is uttered over team radios during a race; fans who correctly predict the total number can walk away with the pot.\u201d The total after last week\u2019s race at Kansas was 776 swear words, or a prize total of $3,880. NASCAR VP\/Content Jess Smith said, \u201cWe were looking for buzzworthy ideas that would build excitement around the Chase (playoffs) … The swear jar was a natural fit because colorful driver radio is an authentic part of our sport, but it\u2019s never been something we\u2019ve highlighted or turned into a game.\u201d While the swear jar \u201cisn\u2019t designed to dirty it up again, it is but one way the sport\u201d is giving \u201cnew love to its past\u201d (AP, 9\/29<\/a>).<\/p>\n

LAYING THE HAMMER: In L.A., Steve Henson noted NASCAR disciplined seven people who participated in the attack on driver Corey Heim in front of a concession stand at Martinsville Speedway shortly after the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 on Saturday. Chad Bryant Racing team owner Chad Bryant and crew member Steve Civitarese are suspended indefinitely from NASCAR events — including next year\u2019s ValleyStar Credit Union 300, a prestigious NASCAR Regional late-model event — and also \u201care on probation for a year.\u201d The disciplinary action comes after NASCAR was \u201ccriticized on social media by racing fans who wondered if the governing body would ignore the beating of Heim that was widely distributed online.\u201d NASCAR posted its own video of the confrontation (L.A. TIMES, 9\/30<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR\u2019s decision to not penalize drivers Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar after their post-race fight at Bristol \u201cwas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,569,12716,634,82],"class_list":["post-916912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-culture","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}