Carl’s Gotta Go!

First off let me start by saying I am a Matt Kenseth fan and have been since 1998.  I lived down in Myrtle Beach and remember going to the Busch races and cheering for Matt before he drove a Ford and was apart of Roush Racing.  I also know if it was not for Mark Martin, Jack Roush would probably not have moved Matt up to Cup so my loyalty is with Matt Kenseth not Jack Roush. 

That said I am trying not to be biased when I say Carl needs to leave Roush Racing.  At first I thought maybe Carl was joking around because it seems like Matt has a sense of humor, even though most media would argue that, but after watching the video and hearing all the reports that was obviously not the case.  I understand that tempers flare all the time in racing and that is what I love about the sport but there are some confrontations that irritate me and this was one of them.  If Carl has a problem with Matt that’s fine I have no problem with that. Even if he wants to get in his face fine, just don’t do it front of a camera and show Matt up.  Carl knew Matt was about to get interviewed by Bob Dillner and he picked that time to shove Matt around and fake punch him, unacceptable.  The worse thing about it is Matt did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment to begin with.  Another thing, all these people that said Matt flinched, and did you see the look on his face, yeah you’re right but put yourself in that position, Most people would crap their pants because Carl is a big dude. 

My second issue with Carl is the apology or may I say Carl’s agenda to get his feelings across that he is the outsider at Roush Racing and nobody likes him.  Are you that big of a baby that you get your feelings hurt because nobody called and congratulated you on your win? Grow up.  I think from day one Matt and Carl have not gotten along and it took this long for it to come to the surface. 

My other concern is Greg Biffle and Jaime McMurray’s comments.  They have taken Matt’s side 100% and have made comments that Carl is showing his true colors. Jaime went as far as saying “why would I call and congratulate Carl, we are not friends”.  Does this sound like a team that is getting together and getting ready for a championship run in 2008?  I don’t think so, and it seems like Carl Edwards might be the cancer that is preventing it.  I don’t believe you have to be best friends with your teammates but I think you need to respect them and obviously Carl does not respect his teammates nor do they respect him. 

Carl’s Gotta Stay!

This whole situation between Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards has already been blown way out of control. I agree 100% that Carl was completely wrong with his actions towards Matt after the Martinsville race. If I were in Matt’s shoes I don’t know if I would ever get over it (I would’ve flinched too). But this whole thing should’ve been on the way to resolve immediately after it happened. Instead Roush allowed it to get to the point where we are now, with their dirty laundry being aired all through the media. I also believe it was a mistake for Geoff Smith to blow this thing off as “boys will be boys”. What a ridiculous way to justify some true feelings of dislike amongst 2 people. 

Instead an interesting mediator has come into the fold to try and help. Mark Martin was featured on the Morning Drive show on Sirius Satellite radio on Wednesday. Because of his fondness for both drivers Mark took it upon himself to get in the middle of this. Mark summed the whole thing up as conflicting personalities clashing. He makes a very good point here. Carl is a really aggressive driver who wants to be successful in NASCAR very bad. This drive for success sometimes pushes him to the point of making mistakes with the other drivers around him. You can’t fault the man for wanting to be successful but there are times where he probably should consider some of the moves he makes. But out on the track that is easier said than done. Mark went on to mention that Matt Kenseth is a driver who rarely makes mistakes behind the wheel. This lack of mistakes gives him a huge intolerance for mistakes happening around him. If someone races him too hard or gets into him he is going to let them know that they just made a mistake. You can’t fault Matt for this either. The two drivers just have different agendas and different ways to succeed.  This coupled with 2 totally different personalities off of the track makes for an oil and water mix of people.

So the 2 are on the same team and they don’t get along, so what? This isn’t the first time that teammates haven’t liked each other and found success. Rusty Wallace had a hard time getting along with his teammates twice during his career. He and Jeremy Mayfield couldn’t stand each other when they were teammates. But Rusty still continued to find success. Also, he and Ryan Newman couldn’t stand anything about each other. But that didn’t stop Ryan from finding victory lane and winning poles. Just this year Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin had problems but they still continued to tear up the tracks. Of course they needed a little mediation from their owner Joe Gibbs, which Roush may need to consider. Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner’s dislike for each other was widely known. It took Richard Childress to mediate the situation. Earnhardt still went on to be quite successful regardless of the teammate problems.

This all comes to my point that Roush can still be successful even though there are personal problems between some of it’s drivers. Carl Edwards is way too much of talent and asset that Roush cannot afford to let him go. Matt Kenseth is also a huge asset to Roush Racing and the team needs to find a way to get the two settled down and on the same page. They don’t need to create miracles and get them to become friends but they can get them working towards the same goals, winning races and championships. How they do that will be a struggle and will be a working progress but it is necessary for success at Roush Racing.

Certainly this could be fixed faster and easier by removing one of the 2 drivers but would you want to work for an organization that fixes its problems by taking the easy road? Racing is a business and when a business is in trouble it is necessary to do whatever it takes to fix it. The successful business is going to be the one that works through their problems instead of avoiding them.