Why NASCAR team owners criticizing national anthem protesters is a bad business decision

This week’s NASCAR mailbag addresses protests during the national anthem, the dominance of Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch, and more.

Each week SB Nation's NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a future mailbag question, email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

Don’t Richard Childress and Richard Petty have the right to decide who they want working for them? If they want to fire someone for behavior they don’t like, so be it. It is hypocritical to think they shouldn’t be allowed to run their teams how they see fit. I don’t see at all how this would make their teams better or worse.

— Travis

Unequivocally, Petty and Childress possess every right to express their opinions and run their teams according to their beliefs. But just as any employee of Richard Petty Motorsports or Richard Childress Racing must face consequences for their actions, Petty and Childress are also accountable for the decisions they make and the words they say.

And from a performance-based perspective, there would be ramifications if Petty or Childress were to terminate an employee over taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. The blowback each potentially faces would adversely impact their respective companies over the short and long term.

In a sponsor-driver industry, both may find a sponsor or prospective sponsor decides it doesn’t want to be associated with someone who states an opinion that could be construed as exclusive and not supportive of First Amendment rights. Then there is the possibility a current or prospective employee elects to sign with a team owner who has a less stringent policy where staging a silent protest isn’t prohibited.

Again, team owners can say whatever they want. They absolutely have that right. But it would seem that in a sport where the margin between winning and losing is razor thin, the best interests for the viability of RPM and RCR is Petty and Childress not putting their teams at a competitive disadvantage.

Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch and maybe even Kyle Larson feel like locks to make the Championship 4. You think that’s true or is there a chance one of them doesn’t advance that far? And does it feel like the new points system has taken away some of the playoff drama?

— Brian

Based on well they’re running and their playoff points accumulation, it does feel as if Truex, Busch, and Larson have a relatively straightforward path to the championship finale. Nonetheless, envisioning all three advancing to Homestead-Miami Speedway with a shot at the title would be a tall order even when taking into account the cushion each has built up.

A couple of bad races within one round could quickly undo any advantage, especially if a driver ranked toward the bottom of the playoff standings were to win and grab a transfer spot unexpectedly. This isn’t necessarily likely in the early rounds, but certainly conceivable in the Round 2 where the points gap between the eight semifinalists won’t be as significant.

As for whether the new points system has sapped some of the drama, it’s still too early say. Although Truex and Busch have dominated the first playoff races — they led 299 of a possible 300 laps Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — it isn’t much different from last year, when Truex steamrolled in winning two of three Round 1 races and Joe Gibbs Racing was equally strong, creating the impression it would be an all-Toyota championship bracket.

Then, the narrative shifted quickly. Truex and Furniture Row Racing collapsed in the second round, while Jimmie Johnson unexpectedly came on strong down the stretch to usurp Toyota and win a record-tying seventh championship.

Obviously, the new points structure favors those like Truex and Busch who were strong all regular season and now have an advantage that didn’t exist a year ago. But things can and will happen over the next eight weeks where the expected won’t occur. So let’s see the format play out before making any definitive conclusions.

Too much attention is being wasted on things that don’t matter. I care what happens on the track, not off it. Why can’t we talk about actual racing instead of all this other nonsense?

— Matt

It would be great to focus exclusively on what’s transpiring on the track, except one problem: The racing has been lackluster with Truex and Busch combining to lead 81 percent of all laps in the playoffs.

All the while one of the most popular drivers (Danica Patrick) announced she’s leaving her team at the end of the season and is unlikely to continue racing, crew members for a title-eligible driver were videotaped breaking the rules, and two team owners made controversial comments surrounding not standing for the national anthem, which prompted both the president and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to respond.

But Matt does bring up a good point, as NASCAR ultimately needs the attention to return to the track. This is what fans care about more than anything, and getting bogged down with the other stuff is a suboptimal way to combat declining television ratings and flat attendance.

What NASCAR really could use to refocus the spotlight is a compelling and exciting elimination race Sunday at Dover International Speedway. That much is obvious.