NASCAR Slaps, Smacks, or Spanks Stewart

NASCAR does seem to have a double standard when it comes to handing out punishment.

Last year - under similar circumstances - the offending drivers was suspended for one week.

Someday - soon - they need to get Tony's attention.

 

Should have suspended him. He needs to learn that his striking fellow drivers or camera men will not be tolerated. Home Depot needs to, and probably has, take a look at possibly replacing him. It's too bad because Tony is a great racecar driver.

He should be punished more severely for what he did. This coming from a 20 fan.

 

I pretty much agree with the punishment, except, they could put him into a room with Shaq and Kobe and let him listen to them whin for 24 hours.

 

I do not think they should've necessarily sat him down. But 25 points is not much, especially given new NASCAR scoring for the end of the season.

 

"NASCAR is never going to be able to turn this into tap dancing, if that's what they are trying to do," Petty said Friday. "This is racing. Emotions run high and they always will. Some things need to be left alone to be settled by the drivers."

I agree with Petty!!

I remember when Dale used to drive the blue and yellow wrangler car. He was known for pushing and bumping people out of his way. Now everyone joins DW in their whining about Tony bumping other drivers. Are they going to come out with a new rule next year that everyone has to stay a car length behind the driver in front of them?

 

Friday night - after the Busch race - Jason Leffler was punished for "unncessary roughness!"

He bumped Michael Waltrip - put him out of the rase - then hit Dale Jr - and put him into the wall. He was punished for the latter action.

He finished 2nd in the race - but was only given credit for 13th!

 

The old days of NASCAR are gone, and will never come back. Things that were permitted in bygone years are no longer acceptable.

If you want to see "bumper cars", then go to an amusement park. At 180 mph, bumping can be fatal. Contact is unavoidable in racing fast and close, but deliberate contact should be punished. The sport is risky enough without adding risk.

Stewart has gotten away without much more than a wrist slap... and NASCAR's reputation for crazy decisions has again been boosted. I suppose Stewart's sponsor carries a lot more influence than Jimmy Spencer's did last year when Spencer was parked for one race for going after K. Busch.

 

Jan and I saw it. Since we are both Kasey Kahne fans - we certainly did not like what we saw.

Tony is a talented driver - he doesn't need to do that stuff in order to win.

In my opinion - since Tony had just passed another driver - he should have stayed in the high lane - because he pulled into a spot between Kasey and the driver he had just passed - a space that was not large enough for a normal driver to parallel park into!

Unfortunately - such actions by Stewart - and non action by NASCAR in this case - just fuels the accusations that some can get away with this stuff - while other cannot. Think Dale Sr - he used to push his rivals out of the way -- all the time!

Earlier in the race - Ryan Newman lost a rear left tire - which drove him into the wall and into Kurt Busch. No one thought that one was on purpose - because it wasn't. Both later returned to the race - as did Kahne.

 

"God created bumpers, and bumpers were made for bumping!" --Dale Earnhardt

In the days that Earnhardt dominated the Winston Cup Series, the rubbing and bumping was a style cheered on by the fans. I think the name "The Intimidator" says it all!

Like Robert Duval said in "Days of Thunder": "That's not bumping you - That's rubbing, and rubbing is racing."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution asked readers to respond to Dale Earnhardt's "tap" of Terry Labonte's car at the end of the NASCAR race in Bristol, Tenn in August of 1999, here is one of the response:

To all the sniveling little whiners out there: Enough already. Dale Earnhardt didn't earn his nickname by being friendly to other drivers. He has always won more races than friends. If you want a mamby-pamby driver you can curl up to like a teddy bear at night, go cheer for Bill Elliott.
Scott Frantz, Dallas, Tx.

 

Yeah, I saw that race, and was furious about what Earnhardt did. He didn't simply "bump n run", but put Terry hard into the wall. Terry was leading the race with only a lap or two to go.

During the postrace interview, Earnhardt could hear the boos from the stands, and he couldn't even look into the camera - he KNEW he'd gone too far.

Funny - a lot of Earnhart fans sent Sterlin Marlin death threats when he simply tapped Earnhardt at Daytona in 2001 - sending Earnhardt into the turn 4 wall and killing him. I guess the view is different when it's your driver lying on a cold slab in the morgue.