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Earlier this year, I waited in the drizzling – then pouring – rain to watch the Sunday Cup race at Dover. When the green flag finally dropped the following Monday, my unused ticket lay crinkled in my trash bin as I slumped over my desk at work: exhausted, disappointed, $58 poorer, in persistently wet shoes.

Yet this past Sunday, I headed back to Dover with unbridled optimism and was handsomely rewarded for my faith. I got to watch Kyle Petty hit someone… or rather slap someone… sort of.

I was not the only person in the stands to jump to my feet when the Nextel Vision screen showed a furious Kyle Petty marching to Denny’s garage stall. Even the Denny Hamlin fans were excited about the melee. If Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, or one of the “hotheads” of the sport had done the same, they would have protested. Instead, there was palpable support for Kyle in the stands. Cheers erupted, fans clapped, and I text-messaged my friends in the next section how pleased I was that he took off his helmet for it.

In the week since, NASCAR has reviewed the incident and decided not to levy any points against Petty or his team for the incident. But while my gut applauds Kyle, my head can’t justify his actions. If the situation were reversed, the racing community would clamor for a penalty. Why are we so willing to let Kyle off the hook?

By no means is Denny Hamlin an unpopular driver. For someone so successful in the series, he managed to avoid controversy until this year when a number of other drivers, including his teammate, have spoken out against his rough driving. Despite the accusations, however, Denny remains more prodigy than villain. If Robbie Gordon had accosted Denny as he sat strapped into his seat, I wouldn’t have been surprised to watch the Kent County Police roll in. Yet I’ve heard excuses for Kyle’s actions all week long and I’m trying to understand why.

The most apparent difference between Kyle Petty and Denny Hamlin has to be their respective ages. Kyle raced his first Cup race while Denny was still a twinkle in his father’s eye. NASCAR fans have always been known to lean towards the old-school, so is that why we jumped to Kyle’s defense? I’m not sure. Sterling Marlin has cracked 50, but he wouldn’t have gotten away with it had he done the same. I have the same skepticism about whether Kyle’s last name played a part. He may be in the NASCAR royal family, but I doubt that earned him any slack. If Dale Earnhardt Jr. had taken a potshot like that, he would have been sitting in the NASCAR hauler within the hour getting the “this sport is bigger than you” speech.

Kyle Petty is known as a nice guy. And that’s not hurting him here. If the confrontation hadn’t been televised, my visualization of the incident probably would have included him putting his hands up, palms out. I certainly don’t consider him an aggressive driver or a hostile person. Watching him poke his hands through Denny’s window net shattered a lot of these preconceptions. I realized that the boy had some bite to him. But why did I cheer him on instead of shake my head? Shouldn’t I have felt betrayed by Kyle’s nice guy act?

Instead, I’ve heard others come forward this week saying, “Denny must have done something really wrong to upset Kyle like that.” But we all watched; we saw what happened. Yes, Denny ran over Kyle and, yes, the crash was entirely his fault. Yet it wasn’t like we missed the part of the videotape when Denny spit at Kyle or insulted his mother. If Kyle’s boiling point is so high, then why did something so trivial (and yes, a crash in NASCAR is trivial) break his composure? The answer lies in the other big gap between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty: the points gap.

Not helping Denny gain public support in this argument are the comments he made to cameras after the incident.

“I think a lot of it is his frustration over this whole top 35 thing, but we’re racing for bigger and better things. So hopefully, you know, if one day they get it turned around, I can exchange the favor. But right now, we’re the guys racing for the Championship, so, you know, heed a little bit.”

Ouch.

For many, this interview was the ultimate justification for Kyle’s reaction. I would have smacked Denny’s helmet, too, had I scored a garage pass. It is unacceptable to throw “bigger and better things” into Kyle’s face when he’s racing for survival. If Kyle can’t stay in the top 35 and lock in a starting spot for next year, it could mean his exit from racing. This sport doesn’t just revolve around the top 12 and the Championship title. There are fans of every driver in the 43 car field and it’s these fans who buy tickets and merchandise and keep the sport alive. No driver is expected to roll over and let the Championship contenders drive through. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be invited to participate in the last 10 races. Kyle Petty has just as much of a right to compete as Denny Hamlin.

The only problem is that this interview was conducted after the incident in question. And fans were cheering Kyle on long before Denny opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it.

Maybe that’s because this is what we expected Denny to say. Isn’t that the sound we heard when Denny’s bumper hit Kyle? “Get out of my way.” Even if Denny hadn’t made his comments, would we have still put those words in his mouth? I think the wreck itself showed what Denny was thinking about Kyle. He said it on the track. He thought the on-track battle with Kyle wasn’t worth fighting; that it was holding him up and he had nothing to gain from it. When Kyle stormed into Denny’s garage stall after the crash, he was showing that he was worth it.

And while I may know in my head that NASCAR should treat all competitors equally and Kyle should have been penalized for his actions, it was still great to see that “fight” in him again.