Ranking the Biggest Hot Heads in NASCAR

Part of NASCAR’s appeal has always been the post-race melee that follows an event. 

The chemical reaction is equal parts blame, denial and temper. There's no Bunsen burner needed to push this reaction to the right of the chemical equation.

One thing is certain: Hot heads need very little by way of lighter fluid to ignite a riot. When led askew by an unwitting catalyst, 700-horsepower engines make for napalm on pit road. Like it or not, like fighting in hockey, these things are woven into the fabric of NASCAR.

Having a temper is also a sign of someone expecting a certain result too. The biggest tempers happen to belong to some of the greatest winners. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with a temper is like a puppy growling.

Read on for some of the more excitable hot heads in all of NASCAR.

9. Danica Patrick

I said in the Intro that most of the hot heads share a propensity for wins. By that criteria alone, that would eliminate Danica Patrick, but you have to admire her fire.

“You hit me in the left rear and spun me out. Yesterday you did the same thing," Patrick said, referring to Denny Hamlin's crash that wrecked Patrick's primary car in Duels practice on the Wednesday during Daytona 500 week. "What is up? Nobody else left me with a problem."

You have to admire her attitude.

8. Joey Logano

Joey Logano needs to talk big because he has little command outside of the car. He’s young (25) and soft-spoken and doesn’t have that fill-up-the-room presence that pure intimidators have.

Just look at the above video. That was from 2010, back when Logano was called “Sliced Bread." He struggled to hold ground physically and verbally to the veteran Ryan Newman.

Logano still packs a temper just the same, and his confidence has only grown with five wins in 2014 and a Daytona 500 win earlier this year.

After the Sprint Unlimited this year, Logano placated a heated Kevin Harvick by saying in USA Today, “He's just Kevin. He's an instigator, right? It's the same thing he is every other time he talks to someone. It's the same old crap. It just happens all the time. No big deal. It's whatever."

Logano gets into the thick of things. He has been in several scuffles, and it’s a guarantee that there will be more come Chase time.

8. Clint Bowyer

Any time you run a 100-yard dash in order to pick a fight, you get dubbed a knight of the hot-headed round table.

That’s what Clint Bowyer did after Jeff Gordon intentionally spun him out.

Gordon had had enough, saying in David Newton’s ESPN.com story, “Clint has run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I've had it, fed up with it, and I got him back."

That was in 2012, which was Bowyer’s best year on the circuit with three wins. It’s no wonder he got fired up at Gordon.

Bowyer is more class clown than class bully, but when you go that far out of your way to find the fight, you have a hot head.

6. Ryan Newman

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Ryan Newman can be a bit of goon. The way he sidled up to Logano in 2010 was the surest way of a guy asserting himself as the alpha dog.

In many ways he is that dog. He races hard and is difficult to pass.

He even had Kyle Busch, one of the more fiery drivers on the circuit, saying this in a USA Today story from 2013 after Newman caused a wreck: “I mean Ryan Newman's the biggest stupid idiot out here, and he's a big ogre and can do whatever he wants because he can probably kick anybody's butt. So no sense in getting in a fight with him, but glad he's out of a job."

Newman had no issue finding work in 2014. In fact, once Richard Childress Racing picked him up, he went on to finish second in the Cup standings without winning a single race.

5. Kyle Busch

Terry Renna/Associated Press

Kyle Busch gets under the skin of many of the drivers on the circuit. Everyone from Jeff Burton to Carl Edwards to Brad Keselowski to Martin Truex Jr. has felt the red-hot ire of Busch.

Truex took umbrage with Busch’s tactics in a 2014 Richmond race. Truex said to Pat DeCola on NASCAR.com:

"

We hung in there, fighting for every possible position until Kyle, for whatever reason, ran into the back of me, causing pretty good damage to our car. I passed him clean earlier and then he comes back and hits me from behind. It was totally uncalled for and hard to figure out why he did what he did.

"

Well, sometimes there is no figuring out. Road rage is real and especially amplified in these tight tracks.

4. Jeff Gordon

It’s easy to forget that Jeff Gordon can fly off the handle sometimes. He projects a savvy, polished image, but when the helmet comes off, he can still jaw with the best.

After one race, Gordon spouted off about Matt Kenseth:

"

He was holding guys up and I got into him a couple of times and shoved my nose and he shut the door on me, and the next time I got an opportunity I definitely moved him but I didn't wreck him. We went down into one afterward, and he just wrecked me. I'm sure he didn't mean to do it and all that stuff, but I wasn't happy about it and I showed it to him after the race. … I'm going to give back to him what he gives to me.

"

Gordon is still winless in 2015 in his final season for NASCAR. He’s running out of time to qualify for the Chase outright with a win, and his temper could be tested the longer he goes without a trip to Victory Lane.

3. Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick, the defending Sprint Cup champion, is never one to mince words. He’ll spout off on anyone. When you have the type of muscle under the hood of his No. 4 Chevy, it’s easy to speak loud and drive louder.

"He blocked and I knocked him out of the way," said Harvick of Joey Logano in Jay Pennell’s FoxSports.com story. "I'm tired of him blocking.”

Harvick can spark things too. You’ve already seen (hopefully) the clip of Gordon and Keselowski going at it at Texas in 2014. That reached full volume when Harvick nudged Keselowski.

No nudge, no scrum.

Harvick has come down a bit from his WWE moves (see video), and maybe that has to do with being a father. But he’s still capable of jawing after a race when he doesn’t get his way, which makes him fun to watch before, during and after a race.

2. Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch has such a temper that USA Today created a timeline of his greatest outbursts. He’d make an great entertaining baseball manager.

He once got into such a mess with Jimmy Spencer that Busch said of the two-time race winner that he was "a decrepit old has-been, or maybe I should say a never-was." 

That is hilarious when you boil it down.

He even flipped the bird through the windshield, which is profane icing on a hot-tempered cake. There aren’t many drivers on the circuit who haven’t been ruffled by Busch in his years on the circuit.

1. Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart has been the pre-eminent hot head and seems to attract them too. All three of his teammates made this list, and all have a fuse about as short as a fingernail clipping.

Daniel McFadin of SportingNews.com wrote in 2014, “Stewart, 43, also has a reputation as one of NASCAR's most volatile and aggressive drivers, dating back to the dawn of his Cup career. Stewart has been involved in numerous confrontations with other drivers and has retaliated several times following on-track incidents.”

Like Kurt’s rap sheet compiled by USA Today, SportingNews.com also put together a list of greatest hits from the record of Smoke.

We may see some of the best tantrums from Stewart yet. He hasn’t won a race since 2013, and a driver of his competitive spirit might snap. He already flipped out earlier this year when he got into a minor mess with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also jawed with Truex.

Stewart better keep that arm loose, because there could be more flying helmets before he’s through.