Well done, NASCAR. They totally blew the punishments for the Hendrick teams, as I suspected they would, so in fact the only thing Rick Hendrick is out is $200,000, or about 3% of the over $6.76 million in prize money Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have made this season.
"We are disappointed in NASCAR's decision and feel the penalties are excessive," Hendrick said. How long did it take him to come up with a serious statement? "Excessive?" Really?
Here's what the Nextel Cup standings would have looked like after Richmond, BEFORE the penalties.
Jeff Gordon 5040 Jimmie Johnson 5040 Six drivers 5010
Here's what they will look like AFTER the penalties.
Jeff Gordon 5040
Jimmie Johnson 5040
Six drivers 5010
Wow, NASCAR REALLY dropped the hammer on HMS, didn't they?
NASCAR had clearly said "don't mess with the COT", right? They had already slapped the 8 team with harsh penalties and said they were going to be really strict about compliance on the COT. The Hendrick crew chiefs could have, rather than risk a penalty, asked NASCAR if there was a "gray area" between the templates BEFORE they modified their fenders, couldn't they? The Hendrick guys got EXACTLY what they wanted out of this, and they got the EXACT "punishment" from NASCAR they probably thought they would get, which has, in the end, NO impact on their chances to win the championship.
All I want is for NASCAR to show me that they are using their heads OCCASIONALLY. They sure didn't do that on this one.
You bring up a very good point here. NASCAR should enforce these points penalties after the Chase standings are set. That way these penalties really hurt. You don't get your bonus points for wins until after the points have been reset, why shouldn't penalties be applied then too?
The only downside is what if those 100 points decided a guy going to the Chase or not? Do you apply the penalty twice? You get the full 100 docked now, and 50 docked when the Chase starts, if you make it.
I agree with you that if NASCAR really is serious about eliminating cheating, they need to send harsher penalties than 100 points when it really doesn't matter.
just because jeff gordon has a huge lead in the points does not mean he should be penalized more than other people. 100 points is a lot. jeff can't help it he is kicking your driver's *ss in the points.
AK47spiderman- Everyone is entitled to their own opinion without being "idiotic". I for one agree with the "punishment" handed out to Gordon and Johnson. They received the same as Jr. did a few weeks back. The only thing I would have done differently is Knaus would be suspended longer because he is a "repeat" offender.
Don't put Gordon on too high of a pedestal! With Jr. coming aboard next year I think that the leaderboards are going to look a whole lot different. Of course that is my opinion, and until next year comes we won't know.
As for harsh penalties, I think that the first offense should carry this penalty (the 100 pt. loss, 100,000 fine, and crew chief suspended). But I think that every infraction after that should get bigger. Like the saying goes- if it happens once, shame on the driver. If it happens twice (same team) shame on NASCAR. I am sure that they will just add a couple "rules" to the sport until the drivers are racing pedal cars around the tracks.
jay jay i agree and disagree the penalties to the 24 team were fitting the 48 team should have so severe that they had no chance to make the chase second infraction this season the points will come off when they lose their appeal this isnt baseball no 3 strike rule
""They had already slapped the 8 team with harsh penalties"
so it was a harsh penalty for the 8 team but more penalty was going to easy on hms?"
In this case, yes, because they TOLD people not to mess with the COT, and they proved it by slapping down the 8 team, yet the HMS guys STILL decided to modify the car. Chad Knaus is a smart guy, and you will never convince me this wasn't a calculated move by the 24 and 48 teams to see if they could get away with flaring out the fenders on the COT, one they did PRECISELY because they KNEW a points-penalty would be no big deal.
I don't think the 100-points was not enough, but I think the HMS teams KNEW they had those points to throw away, so they took the chance to see what would happen, and they were right.
My point is they shouldn't have been thinking nothing would happen to affect their championship chances, so NASCAR SHOULD have affected their championship chances. NOT cripple them, but make a REAL consequence to their actions. I'd have been happy with 50 points, or less even, if they would have hit them for the Chase. Chad Knaus isn't the only one with a brain.
This wouldn't be an issue if they didn't have the Chase, and it wouldn't be an issue if they didn't change the format. Like I said, I'd like NASCAR to think things through every once in a while.
They need to sit down at the end of the season and figure out the punishments better I reckon.
I said this on a couple blogs yesterday, but what's wrong with giving a points and cash fine, not crediting you with any points from that race and making you qualify for every race you're without your Crew Chief?
I know already that my guy was the last Ford to be penalized. But year after year Chad K "bends" the rules and gets caught, isn't it time they got a little harsher on repeat offenders. I don't agree with bending the rules, and I wasn't really happy when my #17 got busted for doing it too. It's time to get real and really hurt the teams where it counts when they break the rules. I agree with docking pts. once the cahse begins. I'm keeping my hopes alive that the #17 buries HMS in the chase.
JAY JAY! DAMN IT! FOUR PEOPLE HAVE BLOGGED THIS ALREADY!
Are you too good to simply leave your comments on their blogs? Were they not good enough because they were newbies? Or was it because most people feel the penalties were appropriate that you felt you had to go off onyour own tantrum here?
If you make the penalties too harsh, then they just will not call any infractions if they are minor. They have to be free to decide what to call and what not to call then what the appropriate penalty is, if any.
"Are you too good to simply leave your comments on their blogs? Were they not good enough because they were newbies? Or was it because most people feel the penalties were appropriate that you felt you had to go off onyour own tantrum here?"
Falcons, are you OK, man? You seem extra on-edge.
I generally write my posts before I look at anyone else's, so the fact that others have made similar posts doesn't bother me. A couple of those other ones were even pretty decent (although it's not my fault that they are wrong. ;) )
The reason I am not posting so far this week is there are so many other posts. I want to know what others are saying before I open my mouth, believe it or not.
I believe the blog is akin to a news site where it is incumbent upon us, the posters, to maintain the quality of the blog. To me that means we police each other so that duplicate posts are avoided and original posters on a subject get to have their say. It means that the discussions on the subject belong on their post.
If one person breaks the story, then the story has appeared on the blogs page. You don't see the same stories posted over and over at the same time on a newsource page.
If we maintain the whole site well, many others will come and enjoy it and help us improve it. If ten stories about Tony, Kurt, Jr. Teresa, Jeff, Jimmie, or anyone else appear, then we have degenerated to a message board. We are in danger of doing that right now if we do not get a lasso around what is going on here right now as a group.
I would hate to see that. But the newbies need to learn some etiquette, and the oldies need to share a decorum that rewards first posts no matter who writes it, good posts, no matter who writes them and ignores trolls and piece of #### so and so sucks posts.
Another thing about ten posts on the same thing is that it limits the other topics that can appear on the blog main page. Let's think about these things and keep our site cool.
I don't know, maybe I should post this as a blog and see what happens.
I'd rather the Nextel Cup champion be decided over the entire season, but I think if you are going to have a Chase for the Nextel Cup, you should break out the twelve guys and have them scored separately, so I'm tracking the points both ways.
I also strongly advocate a NCAA football playoff, so there will be some posts about that showing up here, although I have written this blog for over a year and haven't gone there yet.
I can be reached via e-mail or AIM at jayjaydean at gmail dot com.
