And NASCAR Wonders Why Its Credibility Is An Issue
Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 5:15am CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[thumb:358:l:s=1:l=x]As I’m sure you’re aware of, the penalty for Carl Edwards’ little stunt Saturday was announced yesterday afternoon. It leaves us wondering if he also received milk and cookies with this popcorn fart of a “penalty”.
Carl was “fined” $20,000 and placed on probation until December 31st.
That’s it.
I’ll say it again. It doesn’t matter what the so called “fine” is, it’s not going to hurt their Saturday test sessions. The only thing that would have gotten the message through would been to have parked him for Sunday’s race at Michigan.
Hell, for $20k, that almost makes it worth it. $20k is a lot of money to you and I, however it is chump change for something like this. Needless to say, since NASCAR blew their chance to not only be consistent in leveling a penalty for this type of behavior (see: Kevin Harvick, Martinsville, spring 2002), bur send Edwards a clear message that this type of behavior is unacceptable. “Gee, I’m sorry folks” just doesn’t cut it.
You may wonder about the incident(s) between Dale Jarrett and Ryan Newman a year ago at Bristol. Isn’t this the same type of deal? No, it’s not. Yes, Jarrett was pretty obvious about getting even with Newman for an incident earlier in the race. It was on track, yes. But it was during the race, and not coming off of pit road during a caution lap.
So… no points, and barely a tap on the wallet for Carl. Way to go NASCAR. Real nice message. Were the cookies chocolate chip, Oreo’s, or snickerdoodles? Also was it white milk, or chocolate?
Not that Busch points are really an issue. Saturday is a test session, and Kevin Harvick is the best tester this season. Cup points are out of the question, as this was a Busch event.
Nope, the opportunity was missed to make a point. And the NASCAR executive’s wonder why people question their credibility.
Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Nascar, Nextel Cup
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I fell on the park him side as well. However when you compare this with Robby Gordon’s 35 G’s and a deduction of 50 points the penalty isn’t that far out of line.
In my book driving off pit road to slam someone is on par with wading out into yellow light traffic and tossing your helmet in addition to cussing on live TV.
Marc said this on August 23rd, 2006 at 8:40 am
Using that logic, is a helmet “safer” than throwing your car at a guy?
Even if that’s the case, as per NASCAR, then why just over half the monetary fine, and no points? Not that points mean anything for Edwards in the Busch Series, but to me it’s the point of the matter I guess.
It almost makes me wonder if NASCAR is (off the record) secretly enjoying the controversy of this while publicly denouncing it? Would you be a little more inclined to watch a race (if you were a casually interested party) if the thought of emotional drama came into play?
Hmmm…
Luke said this on August 23rd, 2006 at 9:19 am