"Have at it, boys" (also intepreted as "Boys, have at it") was a quote formerly used by NASCAR to describe the philosophy that the Sprint Cup Series drivers used starting in the 2010 season to solve their disputes on the race track. This practice was abandoned near the end of the 2011 season. It was a standard part of NASCAR policy[1] until Dan Wheldon's death co-incided with Kyle Busch's cross-series ban for one weekend because he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
Racing fans and NASCAR fans have jointly accused the NASCAR in prior seasons of racing to be "too sterile" and "too calm.[2]" Robin Pemberton said those words during the 2010 pre-season Sprint Media Tour in Concord, North Carolina.[3] Racing without significant penalties for the drivers seemed to be the definition of this catch phrase.[3] People were beginning to follow the sport more thanks to this new "attitude" towards racing competition.[2] The final laps of the 2011 Showtime Southern 500 saw Kyle Busch get tangled up with Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer.[2] Many run-ins in the past have involved Jeff Gordon; especially during the 1997 Winston Cup Series season.[2] With the fans' interest at heart and the increased safety of the new car, NASCAR refused change the way they policed the racing events;[2] at least until the untimely death of IndyCar Series driver Dan Wheldon and the 2011 Kyle Busch NASCAR Camping World Truck Series incident at Texas Motor Speedway provoked NASCAR into bringing stiff penalties back into the motorsport. After a racing incident with series regular and championship contender Ron Hornaday, Busch deliberately turned him into the outside wall under caution, ending Hornaday's title hopes. NASCAR black-flagged Busch for the rest of the race. This incident was almost as atrocious as the 2001 Daytona 500; which killed Dale Earnhardt on turn 4 of the 200th lap.
Even in this "have-at-it" era of racing, there were clear limits to what drivers can do to each other.[4] "One of the limits is if drivers put each other into danger" Brian Z. France explained in an interview after the Harvick-Busch incident at pit road.[4] This also applied to the Hornaday-Busch incident at the 2011 WinStar World Casino 350K race. After Dan Wheldon's death and Kyle Busch's one-weekend ban for intentionally smashing into another vehicle, the "have at it, boys" era officially came to an end.[5][6] NASCAR took this action under rules that allow it to park a driver in order to ensure the "orderly conduct of the event," an action which is not appealable. Since the drivers didn't solve this problem amongst themselves, the drivers did not "have at it;" NASCAR's officials had to solve this problem without any input from the drivers themselves.
NASCAR's action mathematically eliminated Busch from contention for the Sprint Cup in 2011, though any realistic chance of him winning it ended earlier in the Chase.