NASCAR has been squeezing itself onto prime-time sports shows on ESPN and some of the other major networks after last week’s steroid investigation of driver Ron Hornaday and the all-out brawl that took place at the end of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in New Hampshire.

Many mainstream sports fans seem to be jumping on the NASCAR bandwagon because, let’s face it, nothing like a good hockey fight, a first-round knockout or a plain old-fashioned brawl between a bunch a’ good ole Pabst-drinking boys from the south, kickin’ each other’s ass; just because.

The fight started after David Starr spun out Todd Bodine. Bodine retaliated by ramming into the back of Starr’s vehicle-sounds like a day on the L.A Freeway during the road-rage 90’s without the guns.

The pit crews for Bodine and Starr both took offense to their rival driver and decided to start throwing a few haymakers right there in the pit. Spectators who viewed the “main event” said the fighters left the arena with a split decision.

The Las Vegas Speedway tried to lighten the incident up by offering to set up a “friendly” tug-of-war bout between the two cranky crews before this week’s truck series race in Vegas and said they were, “Happy to supply the rope.”

I’m sure they are . . . but what really for?

The incident put NASCAR back in the news for the second straight week after last week’s Hornaday steroids inquiry earned national airtime. NASCAR borrowed a chapter from the MLB and NHL marketing books; combating steroid accusations one week, then going toe-to-toe the next.

Both got ‘em a spot on sports highlight reels.

Fights between drivers seem to be stealing the attention away from the sport that many sports buffs think of as nothing but a bunch of rednecks driving wreck-less as hell in the same circle hundreds of times, without turn signals or horns.

The cat-fight the fans really wanted to see ended up just a tease when Danica Patrick and Venezuelan Milka Duno got into each other’s face after a race recently; the argument only elevating into towel-throwing. That knock-down-drag-out-ripping-each-others-clothes-off event can only happen in all of our minds now.

Back to the crew vs. crew incident, NASCAR did suspend a bunch of team members and put them on probation until December 31. Fines totaling $15,000 were also handed out. That calculates out to about 2,500 cans of PBR . . . now that’s hitting below the belt.

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