John Hunter Nemechek ran Cole Custer off the track for the win in Sunday’s Camping World Truck Series race and Custer responded by tackling Nemechek after the drivers had exited their trucks.
Nemechek was running second to Custer on the final lap at Candian Tire Motorsports Park and got to his bumper on the final two corners. He nudged Custer at first, but the slight contact wasn’t enough to derail the No. 00 truck enough to give Nemechek a passing opportunity. So Nemechek increased the intensity and flat ran Custer off the road.
 | @NickBromberg | |
Here’s how John Hunter Nemechek won the Truck race. pic.twitter.com/UCrJ3vj9Bt
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The finish was in question for a few minutes, apparently because the trucks weren’t picked up by the electronic timing lines on the track since they were in the grass. As Nemechek was asking for the checkered flag to celebrate the win, Custer ran after him from pit road and tackled him in the grass.
| @NickBromberg | |
And then Cole Custer comes for the running tackle of John Hunter Nemechek. pic.twitter.com/Mi3A87gaT3
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Nemechek crossed the finish line first, so there was no question that he was the winner. Unless NASCAR wanted to disqualify him for dirty driving. And Nemechek claimed in victory lane that he didn’t do anything dirty.
“We didn’t wreck him for the win,” Nemechek said. “Rubbing’s racing.”
Apparently Nemechek has a different view of what “wreck” is than a lot of others. His driving style was universally excoriated on social media by members of the NASCAR community after the race.
 | @JeffBurton | |||||||||||||
Winning should be honorable
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Custer was racing for a berth in the Chase for the Truck championship. The series is using the postseason format for the first time in 2016 and Custer would have guaranteed himself a spot in the playoffs with the win. Nemechek was already guaranteed into the Chase by virtue of a win earlier this year at Atlanta.
Of course, the win shouldn’t discourage Nemechek from driving hard for the win. But there’s a difference in pushing hard for a victory and overstepping your bounds. And it sure looked like Nemechek crossed a line Sunday afternoon.
But if you’re upset with Nemechek’s driving style, asking NASCAR for a penalty may be fruitless. The sanctioning body has prided and promoted full-contact racing for the win. Sunday’s finish sure fits that bill. And in an area where there’s a whole lot of gray, asking NASCAR to draw a line in the sand of what’s fair when it comes to racing for a win and what isn’t is a request for way too much intervention.
Instead, this seems like a conflict that will resolve itself in the Chase. Much like what Matt Kenseth did to Joey Logano in 2015, Custer has a chance to ruin Nemechek’s title hopes at some point later in the season.
If Custer decides to go the Kenseth route, he’s risking a punishment similar to the two-race suspension Kenseth got depending on the context of his retribution. But what Nemechek did to Custer was far more blatant than what Logano did to Kenseth. If the time comes for retaliation, there may not be many who didn’t feel it was deserved.
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