Brad Keselowski offers brilliant idea for penalty structure for NASCAR driver fighting

Following Ross Chastain’s dustup with Daniel Suarez last week after the race at Las Vegas, the subject of fighting in NASCAR has become a hot topic. Chastain was kept from fighting by a team PR person who got in between him and Suarez.

But many have argued fighting is a necessary part of NASCAR. It’s a way to relieve tension in a relatively safe way.

The alternative, of course, is that drivers retaliate on the track at a very high rate of speed. That can obviously have devastating consequences and is very expensive.

But should fighting be allowed? Currently it’s often penalized by fine by NASCAR, which has served as a deterrent of sorts. Brad Keselowski offered up a different solution for NASCAR this week while speaking with Dalton Hopkins of Frontstretch.

“I guess my personal opinion on this is like if something happens on the track and it’s in the top five, top 10, and you get in a fight for it, OK that seems pretty reasonable,” Keselowski said. “If it happens like for 25th, those guys should not be allowed to fight. It’s a waste of time, it’s not interesting, and just makes everybody looks bad.”

For now, fighting is in a weird gray zone for drivers. They know it’s generally frowned up. Yet at the same time NASCAR has been highlighting fights at various tracks ahead of races.

It’s a weird juxtaposition for the sport. Keselowski himself is split on whether fighting should be tolerated.

“I don’t know. I go back and forth on that one,” he said. “In some lights I love the idea of racing and being able to show the emotion and angst. Then I also think it looks really unprofessional if there’s a brawl every week, right? I like hockey. And every once in a while they have fights and things like that and everybody cheers for it, but if every game had a fight you’re kind of like ehhh.”

Drivers scrapping is one of those things where you know what’s acceptable or not when you see it. It’s subjective, sure, but Keselowski can instantly pinpoint fights that didn’t rise to the acceptability standard.

“I think about that fight at Gateway 10 years ago with John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher,” he said. “That did not look good. That’s not, I think, what we’re going for.”