Posted on 03/31/2004 6:22:26 PM PST by alancarp
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been penalized 25 NASCAR Nextel Cup championship driver points, fined $10,000 and put on probation until June 1 for intentionally spinning out during Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, NASCAR officials announced Wednesday.
The Dale Earnhardt Inc. team, which fields the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet for Earnhardt Jr., was also penalized 25 owner points for the actions of its driver.
Earnhardt Jr. was traveling in Florida when NASCAR notified him of the penalties and was unable for comment.
"We regret what this has cost us in our pursuit of the Nextel Cup championship," team owner Teresa Earnhardt said. "In the heat of battle, a lot of things can happen and decisions can be made that come at a high cost.
"It was a mistake we've all learned from and we have to move past it. Our goal is regaining the ground we've lost and continuing our focus on winning."
Earnhardt Jr. was penalized for intentionally causing a caution condition during the race, and as a result was in violation of Section 12-4-A (Actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 12-4-N (Any driver who, in the judgment of NASCAR officials, intentionally causes or attempts to cause a caution condition by stopping or spinning out or any other action) of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Rule Book.
After a pit stop, Earnhardt's car had loose lug nuts on a rear wheel that caused its handling to deteriorate. Earnhardt fell back from leader Kurt Busch until he was only a few seconds from losing a lap.
Earnhardt spun in Turn 2 and radioed his crew that he had intentionally spun out to keep from losing a lap. In numerous post-race media interviews Earnhardt continued to say he had intentionally spun his car to create a caution that prevented him from losing a lap.
"The driver of the No. 8 car was quite vocal in admitting he intentionally spun out his car to cause a caution condition on the track, which is clearly prohibited in the NASCAR Rule Book," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "We have several rules in our rule book that have been in place for quite some time to prevent someone from altering the outcome of an event.
"This was a clear-cut case of that. Actions such as this will not be tolerated. We will always react to protect the integrity of our sport."
In the 2002 running of The Winston NASCAR all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch spun out Robby Gordon and later said he did it intentionally because he needed a caution period.
NASCAR fined him $10,000.
Earnhardt's adjusted point total of 832 points allows him to maintain third position in the standings, 66 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. Teresa Earnhardt maintains the same differential in the owner standings to Kenseth's owner, Mark Martin.
Why? Do the math, as teammate Mikey would say: if Dale Jr. doesn't do his spinout and pits under green flag conditions, he likely loses 2 laps. If two laps down at the finish, he ends up in roughly 24th place and collects 96 championship points. If one lap down at the end, the finishes roughly 22nd and gets 102 points.
But NASCAR took away only 25 of the 135 points he collected for finishing 11th on Sunday. So by appearances, Earnhardt's team ends up with a BETTER result -- 110 points -- from the NASCAR "penalty" than he would have seen from obeying the rules and not endangering other cars with a caution (yes, he was alone in the area, but the danger comes from cars slowing unevenly around the track).
One can argue that the flurry of late cautions could have allowed Dale to gain back enough space to return to the lead lap, but (a) apparently Dale decided that cheating was going to give him a better result; and (b) with other cars ahead, earning back laps was not certain at all.
Even the fine -- $10,000 -- could have been roughly the difference in prize money from finishing lower in the field. There's little - if any - penalty even from that.
NASCAR should have used this opportunity to send a message: at least 50 (fifty) championship points (I say 75 for the recklessness), plus a $50,000 fine for a blatent cheating offense by its most popular driver and widely acknowledged star. Make it a penalty that matters.
It's only cheating if you get caught. Next time he'll keep his mouth shut.
I was wrong.
I've been a fan since the seventies, my faith in the integrity of this sport has been shattered.
Now don't bring the French into this thread -- they're always waving White Flags. ;-)
Is it only murder if you get caught? Is it only rape if you get caught? Is it only genocide if you get caught? I think you forgot to put /sarcasm/ at the end of your comments.
In Klinton's case, yes.
Must've been some Frenchmen at the Busch race, Mikey almost came in too early, they confused him. :^)
Don't be. It is a common practice by some, not all.
Jeff Gordon is another who stretches the rules of credibility, but we live with it.
Dale Sr. was the unchallenged expert at the "lucky Caution". There was many arace where his car brought out the yellow at the most opportune time. The difference, he kept his mouth shut.
However, in one famous instance Dale Sr's crew chief radioed him "we really need a caution or you are going to go a lap down" Dale's reply "Don't worry, I AM WORKING ON IT!" Maybe 2 laps later Dales front bumper tapped the rear of another car, voila, spin-out, Dale get caution he needed.
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