NASCAR’s Swear Jar More Than Doubles After Chaotic Gateway Race

NASCAR might need a bigger Swear Jar before the Chase is over.

One week after drivers combined for 223 profanities during the Southern 500 at Darlington, World Wide Technology Raceway somehow managed to raise the bar.

By quite a bit.

Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 produced 245 swears, according to the latest running tally from Joseph Srigley. At $5 per offense, Gateway alone dumped another $1,225 into the unofficial jar.

The total after two Chase races: 468 swears and $2,340.

For perspective, NASCAR arrived at Gateway with $1,115 in the jar. By the time Kyle Larson took the checkered flag Sunday evening, the total had more than doubled.

Considering the afternoon everyone had just witnessed, perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising.

Gateway Gives NASCAR Drivers Plenty to Swear About

The Enjoy Illinois 300 became increasingly unruly as the afternoon went on.

Brake problems ended strong runs. Chase contenders crashed. Late cautions repeatedly tore up strategy. Drivers who spent much of the afternoon near the front suddenly found themselves headed for the garage or buried in the final results.

The radio traffic followed accordingly.

Brad Keselowski provided one of the day’s more memorable examples while running near the front. After Joey Logano drove away from him, Keselowski was furious with the speed difference between their two Fords.

“I wish I was one of the Fords that gets a good engine,” Keselowski said over the radio. “Instead, we’re considered a shit box. It’s [expletive] bullshit.”

That frustration came during what was otherwise one of Keselowski’s strongest races of the season. He led 55 laps before eventually finishing 12th.

Bubba Wallace had his own moment earlier in the afternoon after getting squeezed during a four-wide battle.

“I’m sorry, I thought we would get some more room from the [expletive] 19,” Wallace told his team.

Multiply moments like those across 247 laps, a field full of drivers and an afternoon that seemed to grow more chaotic every time the race restarted, and 245 suddenly doesn’t sound quite so outrageous.

What is remarkable is how quickly the total is growing.

Darlington’s 223 swears had put $1,115 in the jar. Gateway didn’t merely add to it. One race produced 22 more profanities than the entire previous total.

That works out to nearly one swear for every lap completed Sunday.

And Now NASCAR Is Going to Bristol

Perhaps the funniest part of the latest update is what comes next.

Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR is taking a Chase already responsible for 468 swears through two races and sending it to a half-mile track where 40 cars will spend Saturday night navigating traffic, lapped cars, bumpers and one another for 500 laps.

There will also be considerably more at stake.

Gateway was only Race 2 of the 10-race Chase, but the standings have already moved dramatically. Larson jumped from seventh to second with his victory. Ryan Blaney’s brake failure cost him a strong afternoon. Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe went from running sixth and seventh late to finishing 31st and 32nd after Elliott’s brake trouble sent him into Briscoe.

The pressure isn’t going down from here.

Neither, presumably, is the profanity count.

The Swear Jar began as a funny running snapshot of what drivers were saying behind the wheel during NASCAR’s championship stretch. Two races in, it has also become a pretty effective indicator of just how chaotic those races have been.

Next stop: Bristol.

Good luck, jar.

Read the full article here