Daytona Penalties!
Posted on February 20th, 2008 by Ron Ripple under Dale Earnhardt Jr, Daytona 500, EntertainingWOWWWWWWWW…. so there were some serious teams from this past weekend’s Daytona 500 that got penalized for some sort of infraction. The biggest penalty went to Robby Gordon after inspectors found an illegal bumper on the front of the car. NASCAR officials gave him a 100 point penalty, fined his crew cheif $100,000, and suspended his crew cheif for 6 races. Overall it dropped him from 9th place down to 40th place. Another team that got penalized last weekend in the Craftsman Truck Series was my boy Todd Bodine. He was penalized for an infraction the inspectors caught before qualifying. So the good news is he still won the race fair and square, but the bad news is he is penalized 25 points, his crew cheif fined $10,000 and his crew cheif is suspended for 4 races.
Here’s the news I know a lot of my readers are going to be extremely concerned about. Dale Earnhardt Jr was penalized 50 points for having an illegal spoiler on his car. His crew cheif was fined $25,000 and also given a 6 race suspension. The good news is it was for the Nationwide Series which still leaves him in the hunt for the Sprint Cup Series. Of all the drivers from this past weekend’s race… I would have never guessed we’d see Dale Earnhardt Jr’s name on the list of penalized drivers. It’s just unfortunate these teams aren’t following the rules and are trying to get away with little modifications. Can’t these teams just race fair and square and follow the rules?
The biggest news from this past weekend’s race is Officials found a hidden bottle of NOS in the trunk of Kurt Busch’s race car. Supposedly he hit the button on the last lap of the restart to give Ryan Newman his push to victory. The question that is confusing officials is how did he get that bottle through inspection the morning of the race. HAHAHAHA… I’m only kidding!!!!! Kurt Busch didn’t have a bottle of NOS in his car, but I know I had you going because the way he pushed Ryan Newman to the front of the pack on the last lap of that race is unbelievable.
Anyway, let me know what your opinion is on the infractions. Why would a team put an illegal part on their car the first race of the season?
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February 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am
The thing is that the teams dont see it as a form of cheating. They are trying to “bend” the rules so that they can get any little advantage that they can. And it was a good thing that Dale Jr did this during the Nationwide race and not the Sprint race cause he has a real good shot at the championship this year. It would be ashame to have such a great team behind you and throw it all away because of penalties.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
Dropping from 9th to 40th in the points is insane. The fact that they fined Gordon the same that they fined Waltrip last year is insane. What exactly was illegal about his bumper?
I listened to a Dale Jr. interview and he didnt seem too worried about his Nationwide fine, he was even joking around about it.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Dale Jr. might have cared if he was actually worried about the Nationwide race. That was just a little warm-up before the race on Sunday. The Nationwide race isnt where he shines, its the Sprint race.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Great info nice blog
February 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
We can all say what we want… even Dale won’t admitit… But a win and a top finish in the Nationwide series is HUGE. There’s money involved, pride involved, and winning is winning.
He kicked everyone’s ass
February 21st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I would have to agree he did kick everyones ass. This year was definately the year for Dale Jr at Daytona.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
ok yeah what dale’s crew chief did was wrong but everyone knows that Jr. doesnt have winning the nationwide cup championship as priority one on his racing to do list but all the same it was a no no
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I just wonder how much really goes on? I also wonder how many get overlooked? Really! It probably happens more than we all even know. Maybe not, but I am sure you push each rule to the max to get the most out of everything, especially on the plate tracks. Leave your comments here. Thanks, Dale Dodge Jr
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I would like to see the NASCAR Foundation have a small part of it’s funds directed to a pool of undersponsored, underfunded racing children, I’m sure that among the millions being collected this season, they could give back by sponsoring several 20K a year small teams, like mine. Thanks, Dale Dodge Jr
February 24th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Nate writes : “The fact that they fined Gordon the same that they fined Waltrip last year is insane. ” I agree… I can’t see how NASCAR can justify that an illegal bumper deserves the SAME penalty as putting “jet fuel” into a car.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Penalty SHMENALTY.
Ridiculous.