NASCAR.COM - Hendrick: COT's gray area should be better defined - Jun 23, 2007"Well, I don't necessarily say they bent the rules -- I think they thought they were working inside an area in which they could.." -Rick Hendrick
What are we missing here? We don't work with
NASCAR everyday, but we do know a few things that apparently
Hendrick Motorsports doesn't. First, if it looks like a skunk, acts like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, its probably a skunk. Either that or a #48
Crew Chief,
driver, or team representative.
Second, the template is there to protect the integrity of the competition. It doesn't mean, its there for everyone to follow except for the team with the most money. It also doesn't mean, its
ok to 'game' the system by making illegal modifications under the guise of "The template still fits".
Hendrick also said that he believes they have already been penalized enough. Huh? His reasoning? Well why not:
"This is a penalty, we're behind everybody else because we didn't get any track time. Starting in the rear, nobody's ever done it and won a race here...... This is a big penalty not being able to qualify and get a good starting spot and a good pit spot. I'm not going to say it's impossible but we're just hoping for a good finish. If these two cars finish in the top 10 I'll be real happy."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the
Budweiser Team were hit with $100,000 in fines, 100 championship points, and loss of a crew chief for 6 races. That was for an illegal spoiler bracket, and it was also a claimed accident. I don't recall any one from Hendrick complaining that they [Earnhardt's Team] had already been penalized enough by starting at the back of the race.
"We'll have to see what the penalty is, ,but I don't think that the penalty fits the crime in this case, when you're talking about the top of a fender and you're doing it by hand."
Wait a second, didn't he already say that they were already penalized? More sanctions may be forthcoming (there certainly had better be some points docked, otherwise they [
NASCAR] are cheating the fans from fair racing), but until that is announced how can anyone say that the penalties don't fit the crime? Furthermore, at least for the
#48 team, they have been caught how many times circumventing the system now? At least three, if memory serves and they received a Championship for it last season.
What is
NASCAR to do though? Well how about show some in integrity of their own and enforce their own rules?
NASCAR has said many times that skirting the edges of legality with modifications to the "Car of Tomorrow" would not be tolerated. They also said that minimum penalties would be a loss of 100 driver points and $100,000, which is strangely what they hit Earnhardt, Jr. with earlier this year. They also banned
Crew Chief Tony Eury Jr. for 6 races and as far as I can recall
Eury Jr. had never been caught or even accused of cheating, unlike
Chad Knaus who has built a reputation on sitting in the Trailer for illegal modifications and skirting the rules. If
NASCAR wanted to stand up for the fans, competing drivers, and the sponsors they would stay on the strict line. The punishment of Dale Jr. was firm, the next offenders should have been scared away by those penalties implemented. Yet they weren't afraid of those infractions, why should they be 100 points means literally nothing to the #24 team well in the points lead and only a minor
irritation to the #48, $200, 000 for the team is just pennies in the bank and loosing their crew chiefs for 6 races is only
minor hindrances. Examples should be made and precedent set. The violated the rules after another team was caught and punished, so double the penalties. Dock each team 200 driver points, each team $200,000 in fines, and remove their Crew Chiefs for the next 12 races. Let's see who the third team to cheat will be then,
heh?
If
NASCAR follows true to it's usual form though,
Jeff Gordon can do no wrong so therefore chances are that only the usual slaps on the wrist will be forthcoming. It will be a disgrace to the sport and an insult to the fans and sponsors if nothing serious is done to discourage further 'testing of the gray' areas. So hopefully those at
NASCAR grow some bolts, and make the right decisions.
