NASCAR Wimps Out Again
The mid-week penalties have been announced by NASCAR.
If you don’t follow racing closely, Tuesday is always known as penalty day for NASCAR. That’s when the higher ups in the sport sit down and decide what the penalties will be from any weekend infractions. Many teams sit on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen. Depending on the infraction, some wonder about losing a Crew Chief for a race or two, the loss of points, or even a lighter wallet. Sometimes drivers are placed on probation, and other times, there’s simply a slap to the wrist. True to form, NASCAR have announced their penalties for the week, this time taking aim at Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.
Just as a refresher here, the drivers were under the magnifying glass by NASCAR as a result of some on track incidents after Saturday night’s race in Bristol. Carl Edwards pulled off the famous, or maybe infamous, bump and run to shoot past Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the race and take the win. For a full description of what transpired Saturday night you can find it here in an earlier blog entry I entitled Do Unto Others…
So, what happened yesterday when NASCAR handed out their penalties. In my opinion, once again, NASCAR wimped out…
First off, why in the world did NASCAR also take action against Carl Edwards?
When the race was finished they didn’t call him to the trailer. They wanted to talk with Kyle Busch and called him in, but they left Edwards alone, and rightfully so. After all, Kyle Busch was the one acting true to form in his cry-baby mode of using his car as a weapon when he tried to spin Carl Edwards out after the checkered flag had already flown. In the post race interview, Edwards said he simply did what Busch has done to him, and many other drivers, throughout his NASCAR driving career. Instead of racing clean, Kyle Busch rams his way to the front crashing into whomever may be in front of him. He laughs about it and says he hates to lose. But, when it happens to him, Busch doesn’t like it. What does he do? He uses his car as a weapon to crash into someone after the race. That’s exactly what he did Saturday night, and he was in turn called to the NASCAR office for a talking to.
Now, on the heels of the immature actions of Busch, he’s been put on probation for six races, along with Carl Edwards. As I mentioned above, why did NASCAR put Edwards on probation? Could it be they’re afraid they might be showing favoritism? Sorry boys, but you’ve showed favoritism already, especially when it comes to Kyle Busch. But, there’s even a deeper issue going on here.
Once again we see NASCAR wimping out when it comes to penalties. Aside from the fact that they included Carl Edwards in this foolish penalty, reality is, a 6 race probation period means nothing to these guys. NASCAR needs to hit the drivers, owners, and sponsors where it really hurts. It’s become painfully apparent fines do nothing. After all, a fine of 10, 50 or even 100 thousand dollars doesn’t phase these guys. Losing a crew chief doesn’t do anything. Even though the crew chief may be banned from the track during race weekend, he’s still at the shop, and in many cases, on the phone, during suspension. Probation does nothing either. NASCAR keeps handing out probation penalties, but in the end, this means nothing to the drivers or teams either.
So, what should NASCAR do? Stop wimping out and put some teeth into the penalties.
If NASCAR is serious about the issue of body slamming someone with a car, they need to sit the driver in question out for some races. Kyle Busch has been put on probation before and it’s done nothing to change his attitude. If probation truly changed a drivers attitude, Kyle Busch would stop using his car as a weapon. Since Busch has served probation time in the past for the same action, NASCAR should have suspended him from racing for a few races. Instead of putting him on probation for 6 races, maybe they should have suspended him for 3 races. That’s right, take him out of the car. There was a time when I said NASCAR should park the car and driver all together. But, after thinking about that a little more, just take the driver out of the car. After all, if he doesn’t race, he doesn’t get points, or prize money.
Come on NASCAR, lets get with the program here. Stop wimping out. Kyle Busch has served probation before. Take him out of the car. Then, when he’s back in the car, if he does the same thing, take both the driver and the car out of a few races. Maybe then, the driver, the team, the owners, and the sponsors, will really sit up and take notice.
Right now NASCAR, as the sanctioning body of auto racing, you’re doing nothing more than sanction road rage.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
Unbelievable. When NASCAR steps in and disciplines drivers, people say NASCAR is turning the drivers into vanilla robots. When NASCAR doesn’t discipline the drivers enough to suit Dr. Rus, he and others complain that NASCAR is being weak. Give me a break! NASCAR’s history is filled with colorful characters who were real, competitive and sometimes vengeful. That’s what makes the sport great. It’s not just the cars it’s the individuals driving them that attract us to NASCAR. I say, forget the penalties. Let the boys be boys and be who they are. We all need to quit being wimps. The drivers aren’t wimps. They can take it and give it right back. Now that would be fun.
I agree with Chuck…maybe Dr Rus needs to watch tennis or ice skating, this is a contact sport at high speeds!
No room for the weak at heart. Ya finally have a driver (Kyle) that rattles some cages, cares nothing about point racing, and you want to pull him out of the car, no way. Dr Rus just try another sport and let the real fans enjoy this one!