Bumper tag

Somewhere this day, and not for the first time, the Intimidator is in full smirk mode. His eyes are rolled up in his head. He's elbowing Curtis Turner and Fireball Roberts and a few of the other ol' boys, pointing and snickering.

Heck. Dale Earnhardt may even be resurrecting one of his favorite lines, the one about tying a kerosene rag around your ankles so the fire ants don't climb up and "eat your candy ass."

This upon the notion that what Joey Logano did to Matt Kenseth with five laps to run out in Kansas yesterday was dirty dealing, that getting under a man's left rear quarter panel and turning him is simply not how it's done, old boy. Not in the New NASCAR, neutered as it is these days by the demands of its moneyed interests.

"Buncha tea sippers," would no doubt be Earnhardt's verdict on them, except for the less gentlemanly adjectives he might be inclined to add.

That's because what Logano did to Kenseth -- here, take a look -- was simply the way you did things  back in Earnhardt's day. The man made a positive art form of getting underneath people and spinning 'em, and if it got the spin-ee hot under the collar, hardly any of Earnhardt's legion of worshippers ever thought the less of him for it.

Indeed, it was the wellspring of his popularity.

But times change, and so the intertoobz is debating today whether or not Logano's move made him an outlaw along the lines of Dillinger or Jesse James. Alas, even the Blob has gotten sucked into it.

Not that the Blob thinks it's much of a debate.

The take here is that what Logano did -- and what Kenseth did by trying to block him -- was simply two guys racing for the checkers, and more power to 'em. Both men went for the W, and the only difference in their tactics was the difference in their respective track position. And so Kenseth  did whatever he could to keep Logano behind him, and Logano did whatever he could to get past him.

That's just racing, folks. Almost forgot what it looked like, didn't ya?