In NASCAR’s playoff era, winning by any means is acceptable

It was as deliberate an act as it comes in motor sports. Trailing leader Kaz Grala on the final lap of Sunday’s Camping World Truck Series race, second-place Austin Cindric slammed into the rear of Grala’s truck, spinning him out.

With Grala off the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course, Cindric cruised to his first NASCAR win and a secured spot in the eight-driver Truck Series playoffs.

Afterward, Cindric was unapologetic about his actions. Grala was already playoff-bound on the strength of winning the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Meanwhile, Cindric’s only path to the postseason required a win either at CTMP or in the regular-season finale Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway. And with a win within his grasp, the 19-year-old was willing to go to any extremes:

“Honestly, it’s the game NASCAR has set up for us to play, which isn’t a negative, but it also is not a positive,” Cindric said on MRN Motorsports Monday. “Guys have dumped people for wins, especially at that race track, for many, many years.

“I honestly would haven’t done it unless I had incentive. My incentive was to get the team a win, and my incentive was to get us in the playoffs. If we’re in the playoffs, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s just one of those deals that you had to get yourself to do.”

He’s right, of course. Winning a NASCAR national tour race has never carried more importance.

A victory during the regular season virtually assures a driver a postseason berth, and a playoff win guarantees advancement to the subsequent round. The heightened stakes entice drivers to do things they might not otherwise do — exactly as NASCAR intended, as officials steadfastly believe it creates a better on-track product, enhanced excitement and, therefore, will encourage more people to tune in to see what happens next.

Although it may sound more reality television than straight-up competition, NASCAR (and many sports in general) blurred that line long ago. The genie isn’t going back into the bottle.

Grala, understandably, didn’t share Cindric’s perspective. Outrage was shared by many on social media who felt Cindric crossed the line between hard racing and blatantly crashing someone to win. “Cindric robbed Grala” quickly emerged as the prevalent theme, and NASCAR shouldn’t let such on-track thuggery happen.

Never mind Jeremy Clements, driving for his family-owned, underdog team, scoring his first-career Xfinity Series victory after contact with race-leader Matt Tifft on the second-to-last lap. Sure, maybe Clements didn’t mean to turn Tifft, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that he did. A driver choosing to use his bumper comes with the acceptance that it could manifest into something beyond a simple bump-and-run.

A notable difference between the two incidents is how the drivers handled themselves in the aftermath. Clements was remorseful and apologetic and said there was no intent to force his way into the lead, whereas Cindric left no illusion that he meant to give Grala a nudge, though he did say there was no intent to spin the No. 33 truck.

Apparently as long as one is contrite and acts ashamed of his actions, spinning a competitor is acceptable. It’s the same argument many veteran drivers cited in the wake of an unapologetic Joey Logano after he dumped Matt Kenseth on the last lap of the 2015 Cup Series playoff race at Kansas Speedway, triggering a feud culminating with Kenseth purposely crashing Logano two weeks later. Had Logano just called Kenseth or publicly said he was sorry, it would’ve gone a long way to help smooth things over, so went conventional wisdom.

Logano later admitted he would’ve handled the Kenseth situation differently — that in hindsight he could’ve attempted to diffuse the hard feelings. Losing a chance at a potential championship will certainly cause one to rethink one’s actions. Just as Cindric may realize he should’ve conducted himself in a different manner.

“You can’t apologize for winning,” Cindric said. “I definitely don’t like how it all ended up especially with Kaz because Kaz and I have grown up racing together. Kaz and I are friends. Obviously, that may change after that weekend. I know he’s not very happy, and he has all the right to be. It’s one of those things I’m going to have to move through and try to earn some respect back over time.”

But in an era where winning means the difference between title eligibility and being an afterthought, Cindric did what he had to do. And there’s nothing wrong with that.