NASCAR or BUMPERCAR?

NASCAR returned to the track Sunday for the first time since September 8, but as the old saying goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

That held true at Dover during the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 race as Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd continued the hostilities that they started at the fabled half-mile track in Bristol August 25.

Maybe the head honchos at NASCAR should consider a new name for their racing series.

How about BUMPERCAR?

After the race, a fuming Rudd challenged Wallace and suggested "we settle this right now." Wallace declined, preferring to use words instead of fists. The driver of the No. 2 Penske Ford claimed that the accident had been initiated by Rudd, who was trying to put Wallace a lap down.

Rudd fervently disagreed.

"We got damage there messing with 'Rubberhead' Wallace. He took the race away from us."

Rudd recovered sufficiently enough to grab the third-place finish, which allowed him to gain ground on points leader Jeff Gordon. Rudd now trails Gordon by 212 points with nine races yet to be contested. Wallace finished in 11th place, continuing the trend of his disappointing season.

Two weeks ago, Rudd and rookie Kevin Harvick "met" twice during the race at Richmond, with Rudd punting Harvick out of the way with six laps to go to gain the victory. Harvick had started things eleven laps earlier when he almost wrecked Rudd in what appeared to be a deliberate incident.

In the aforementioned Bristol race, Wallace spun out Rudd after the checkered flag had fallen. However, both drivers attributed the confrontation to "failed brakes."

Sounds more like "lost tempers" to me.

Greg Biffle even went so far as to take a punch at Jay Sauter during an ugly occurrence September 7 in the AutoLite/Fram 250 Busch race at Richmond. Biffle and Sauter both initiated contact during two separate incidents, which resulted in Biffle's wild swing at Sauter after the second crash.

NASCAR fined both drivers and their crew chiefs a few days later.

And so the list goes on and on. Some drivers say that this type of behavior is what the stodgy racing circuit needs in order to liven up its image, while other participants are horrified at the turn of events.

Boys will be boys, as it has been said, and they can only hope that the erratic behavior is not giving NASCAR a figurative black eye to go along with the literal ones that certain drivers are trying to inflict on other drivers.

Americans are doing their best to get back to business as usual, and so is the BUMPERCAR circuit.

I mean, NASCAR.