Don't believe all that you hear on NASCAR airwaves (cont'd)

"You have to argue, you have to express yourself, especially in team sports and in racing," said two-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson. "You have to express your point of view. Everybody's intensity is really high because you're trying to perform, you're trying to make the right decisions. That stuff happens all the time, it really, really does. You've got to have thick skin to work through it and have relationships that can survive that stuff."

Just ask T.J. Majors, a JR Motorsports Late Model driver who became Earnhardt's spotter when NASCAR's most popular driver moved to Hendrick Motorsports. Early in the season Earnhardt was often terribly brusque with Majors, curtly demanding the type of information he wanted to hear over the radio. A listener would think the two had a terrible relationship, when in actuality Majors is a card-carrying member of the Dirty Mo Posse who often battles his boss in online races. Even the mild-mannered Johnson says he and crew chief Chad Knaus "argue all the time" over the radio, but you'd never know it from the close bond between the two.

The message is simple: Don't believe everything you hear. "Drivers and crew chiefs, we argue at times," said Robby Gordon, a former winner of Sunday's event on the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y. "That doesn't mean we don't like each other at the conclusion of the conversation or the argument."

Such was the case last weekend with Edwards and Osborne, two men who have been at their most successful when paired together. "Carl and I, I don't know what the perception is, but we argue on a regular basis. It's not out of the ordinary for us to argue. We argue. We get mad at each other. We walk away and then we walk back together and calmer heads prevail and we have a discussion," said Osborne, on the box for 10 of Edwards' 11 career Sprint Cup victories (he was suspended for this year's Texas win).

"We might argue again on the same subject, and walk away and come back together, but through the arguments and through the discussions and through the handshakes and the hugs we come to terms with what we want to do and when we want to do it. And 99 percent of the time, it works out for us."

Surely it helped that things worked out Sunday, and the duo won the race. Had the rain washed out the remainder of the Pocono event and Edwards lost because of the pit stop, it's very conceivable that he and Osborne might have hashed it out again after the checkered flag. The situation might have necessitated a follow-up conversation or a Tuesday morning meeting, which, depending on the magnitude of the argument, Johnson said is sometimes needed to fully clear the air. None of it would have been out of the ordinary, not in a sport where drivers can be finicky and crew chiefs often have to play confidante or guidance counselor in addition to setting up the car.

What would have been uncommon? For Edwards and Osborne to show up in Watkins Glen this weekend still steaming, and allowing the events of last Sunday affect their performance. Can't happen. This sport moves fast, in more ways than one. "It's just understood that it's the heat of the moment," Johnson said, "and you move on."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Also:
• Right fuel strategy boosts Edwards to Pocono victory