Posted on 03/23/2006 5:07:15 AM PST by glock rocks
Looks like lots of railbirds. Damn, you got it BAD to go watch tire testing. Way more boring than time trials.
Per XM Radio Jim Hunter just said that Jeff has been fined 10,000 and put on probation.
He also said that Nascar does not favor certain teams such as Hendrick.
I'm sure the story should be up soon on Na$car
What did spencer get for hitting Busch?
Any word on how long the probation is?
Spencer punched Busch in the nose. He was fined $25 big ones and sat out a week IIRC.
They didn't say how long probation, but Nascar should have the whole thing up soon.
Bono and the #1 team should not be fined for the expletive because Fox was on delay but someone dropped the ball and didn't edit the word out.
Yep that was right, and Spencer was on probation from Aug 03 to the end of the year.
A little clip from that incident.......
Jack Roush was openly critical of NASCAR's decision to place his driver on probation. "It is incomprehensible to me that NASCAR used this incident to place Kurt Busch on probation. His only involvement in the 'altercation' was to be the recipient of a blow struck by an individual that is twice his size.
Maybe Jack's radio was on the blink. A tape of Busch's radio conversation Sunday with crew chief Jimmy Fennig indicated he might have purposely tried to expand on the "rubbin' is racin'" theory:
Busch: ''See, I'm not very good at being bad. I was trying to flatten the [No.] 7 car [Spencer] fender and I got mine. I needed to be further forward on his car.''
Fennig: ''They just showed that on TV. You just missed by about an inch or two. Ah, not far enough forward.''
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/b_duane_cross/08/20/spencer.busch/index.html
A $25,000 fine and a 1-weekend suspension.
Really? From Jayski, besides the Mr. Excitement $25K/1-weekend parking, we have Smoke losing $50K and 25 points for knocking the wind out of Shrub at Sonoma a couple years back (I will point out that Shrub was and is part of Team Hendrick), Happy getting the Jimmy punishment for fighting in 2002 and a couple of Happy's crewmen being suspended a weekend for their part in Happy's altercation with Rudd in 2003.
I can't figure out how they figure out fines and punishment. Kind of makes you wonder.
I am just glad my driver only cusses and doesn't fight. Of course that one word cost him $25 big ones and 25 POINTS!!
Martinsville should be interesting.
This is somewhat long, but I found it interesting. I just was wondering whether we need to change his name to fit the more aggressive Jeff. :) Flash doesn't fit his description of himself.......
Jeff Gordon says the person that NASCAR fined $10,000 on Tuesday for shoving Matt Kenseth after Sunday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway is closer to who he is than what fans have seen.
Gordon, also placed on probation until Aug. 30, 2006, took a two-handed jab at Kenseth on pit road when Kenseth approached him to explain the bump that sent the four-time Nextel Cup champion from third place to 21st on the final lap.
It was the first time in Gordon's 14-year Cup career that he has been fined for conduct. His team was fined in 2000 for an equipment violation and he was fined twice as an owner for violations on Jimmie Johnson's car involving crew chief Chad Knaus.
"For many, many years I've been so reserved from controversy,'' Gordon said. "For years, I was so concern with, 'What is this person going to think? What is that person going to think?' I was more caught up in that than being true to myself.
"What you see today is a truer Jeff Gordon and who I really am.''
Gordon said he chose to avoid controversy early in his career because he came from an open wheel background and didn't grow up in the Southeast where many drivers came from at the time.
"I felt I had to do extra things to be accepted,'' he said. "Now that I've established myself, I'm older and I understand life a little more, really the way to enjoy life and enjoy racing more is to be me.''
That doesn't mean Gordon condones shoving Kenseth, who like himself has a reputation for racing clean. He placed part of the blame on NASCAR, saying he was told to park on pit road near Kenseth's car instead of driving to his hauler as normally is the case for those outside the top five.
"[Matt] said it best, that it probably wasn't the best time to walk over to me,'' said Gordon, referring to a comment by Kenseth after the incident. "I told NASCAR had I been thinking more clearly at the time without being so angry, I'm sure I wouldn't have shoved him.''
Gordon added there appears to be more incidents off the track lately because NASCAR isn't doing enough to temper aggressive driving on the track.
"If somebody intentionally runs into somebody on the track, it seems it has to be so obvious for NASCAR to take action that it usually doesn't happen,'' he said. "Yet off the track, they're easy to jump at it.''
"We have drivers who think it's OK for them to do something, but it's not OK for somebody to do it to them,'' Burton told reporters during a Monday Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol. "Jeff Gordon's a perfect example.''
Gordon said there was no conscious effort to wreck Truex Jr.
"Martin completely checked up in front of me,'' he said. "The problem is I was an inch off his rear bumper when it happened. He did not have any time for error.
"Jeff Burton is mad because he got caught up in the wreck. I didn't see it being any different than when he got into [Scott Riggs]. He didn't mean to get into [Riggs], but people checked up in front of him.''
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Gordon's fine was consistent with past violations of the same nature, reminding Tony Stewart was fined no more than $10,000 for his first three incidents,
"A lot of people are going to say it should have been more, saying we fined Tony $50,000 [in 2004],'' Hunter said. "But Tony had a string of fines leading up to the $50,000.''
Gordon also admitted missing the Chase for the Nextel Cup last season has somewhat changed his approach to driving.
"I kind of heard a lot last year that maybe I wasn't being aggressive enough on the racetrack,'' said Gordon, who is seventh in points heading into Sunday's race at Martinsville [Va.].
" . . . I'm looking at last year and what as a driver I could have done differently or better at times to get us in the Chase or be in position to win more races. I felt like there were times when I could have been more aggressive.''
Gordon said sometimes that aggression carries over off the track like it did at Bristol.
"I guess that's maybe the Jeff Gordon that has evolved over the years,'' he said. "In the past I've reserved a lot of my emotions. I'm not afraid to show them these days. I'm just being me.''
Thanks WCG...great article. I would like to see Jeff be more aggresive on the track. I'd like to see him get PO'd at his crew chieft who just can't seem to set his cars up...all I hear from JG is " tight, loose, tight, loose..."...
It will be interesting to see Jeff race the next few weeks.
I've been happy with Jr's added gusto this year with his new old crewchief back. I've even seen him bumping a few here and there.
Hopefully ST didn't get washed away today with the storms.
Actually enjoyed it! Maybe they should have PAID him to get upset. :)
Monday, March 27, 2006
[I snipped off the beginning paragraphs re: the Harvick interview about Busch since we've heard that already]...
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Gordon's fine was consistent with past violations of the same nature, reminding Tony Stewart was fined no more than $10,000 for his first three incidents,...
Most of the other drivers fines that were compared to this had a history, I.E. Spencer, Stewart. I've been a Gordon fan for about eight years and that was the first time I have ever seen him retaliate off track.
How many incidents did Harvick have before he got parked for a weekend and fined $25K for fighting? Not many. Further, this wasn't the first time that Jeff (allegedly) retaliated off-the-track for something that happened on the track. There were multiple reports that he and Mike Bliss got into it at a Chicago-area airport after the 2005 USG Sheetrock 400, where Bliss put Flash into the wall.
We should have left it alone when it was "just Bristol".LOL
And as far as the incidents of Harvick and Stewart, memories are short but they were considered the "bad boys" of NASCAR serveral years ago logging several incidents between the both of them. But both have matured and the past is over.
As for the incident between Gordon and Kenseth at Bristol, I don't condone what Gordon did. Kenseth was racing for position, pure and simple. All the bumping and banging (of cars, that is) is racing at Bristol.
One last thought. The post race shows all delighted in the "new" Jeff Gordon (especially Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer). I thought it was interesting to see their reaction to Gordon's shove of Kenseth. I think they liked seeing the unexpected and felt it would be good for the sport.
I am curious -- what is the fastest a NASCAR car has ever gone during a race or qualifying? I assume it was at 'Dega or Daytona before the implementation of plates?
That was easy.
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