Agree to disagree

Drivers shouldn't have to worry about being gentlemen

Let's get one thing straight: There is no gentleman's agreement.

Yeah, it's Rockwellian to wax poetically about the good ol' days of racing, and it's best to believe in the good in people, but the fact remains there's a lot at stake -- even when the yellow is flying -- with 43 drivers chasing the checkers.

At Sonoma, Robby Gordon was taken to the woodshed for his pass of teammate Kevin Harvick. Sunday at Chicago, it was Jimmie Johnson's turn to feel the wrath of his competitors. All the while "gentleman's agreement" was the catchphrase kicked around like a hacky sack.

For his part, Michael Waltrip, who was passed by Johnson last week, took the high road: "Every situation is different. Under the same circumstances at Chicago, I might have done the same thing Jimmie did to me. Jimmie did not run into me and he had a run on me during the lap and it's so difficult to make a pass, when you finally think you can do it, it can be hard to think about a flag flying over you. Who knows what I would have done in the same position. I am not condoning Jimmie's decision, because we do have this agreement we have been told to abide by. [NASCAR president] Mike Helton made a speech in Daytona and it would appear to me that some people were not listening.

"Taking a position under the yellow flag is like stealing, yet stealing is against the law. There is not a law against racing back to the yellow, so until NASCAR decides what they want to do, then it's a free for all."

However, Waltrip's crew chief, Slugger Labbe, spoke his mind: "Jimmie Johnson abused the gentleman's agreement on Sunday. If these drivers, all drivers, don't get their acts together, then Helton is going to step in and make a rule and it is not going to be pretty. These drivers have to understand that the consequences of gaining one position under the yellow is not worth an official rule that might take away a chance of getting a lap back under other circumstances.

"In Sunday's case, Jimmie had a faster car and I know why he did it. In our defense, a position is still a position and you can not predict what will happen from one lap to the next. What if Jimmie had a bad restart? We would have rather been in front of him than behind him, so even though he was ultimately faster, a position is still a position and like any other team out there, we looking for the best position we can be in. Sure, circumstances are different for each car, but I believe in the gentleman's agreement simply because I do not want to hear that a rule has been made and that all positions are frozen when the yellow is thrown."

And therein lies the crux of this hot button issue. There is no rule. But should there be a rule? No, even considering the high-stakes game these drivers play each week. Sponsorship makes the sport go 'round, and if a driver can pick up a spot on the grid, he's going to do it. Accumulated throughout a season, 20 or 30 points can make a difference in the standings. Without a written rule, there is no gentleman's agreement; it's all the heat of battle when the green drops.

"The gentleman's agreement is just that," Ryan Newman said. "Like Mike Helton said in the meeting, it's something that Richard Petty and David Pearson and Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker and those guys sat down and said, 'This is how we're going to try to work with it. We're going to try to work with our own gentleman's rules.'

"It's coming now where the cars are so equal and the track position is so important, if you've got a chance to pass when you come back to the line you're going to cherry pick it. Drivers are starting to do that. It happened in reference to keeping cars a lap down and it's happened in reference to guys racing back for a position. I think the only thing NASCAR can really do, in my opinion, is when the yellow flag comes out if you're a lap down you're still a lap down.

"That's going to take away an opportunity to race back to the line, so that doesn't make a difference. You'll have guys racing through accident scenes trying to get a lap back of trying to gain positions. To me it doesn't matter [if NASCAR steps in]. To me, it's a catch-22. You're going to give people an opportunity to pass people if you don't and at the same time get a lap back. If you do then you're going to take away an opportunity to get back on the lead lap, so there's going to be less cars on the lead lap if they make a rule like that."

Given that NASCAR has expanded the field in recent years to create more on-track competition, it seems unlikely that a rule to potentially diminish competition is forthcoming. There shouldn't be a rule governing a gentleman's on-track behavior, just like there isn't an agreement now. It's every man for himself -- and that's what makes racing racing.

B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for SI.com.

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