[tkj24]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - NASCAR has not ruled out suspending drivers as a deterrent for cheating on the Car of Tomorrow.

Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were all docked 100 points when their cars failed recent inspections. Their crew chiefs were fined $100,000 and suspended six races a piece, but the drivers have been allowed to compete and all three are in contention for the Chase for the championship.

"We'd like not to get to (suspending drivers)," chairman Brian France said during a conference call Tuesday. "We'd like to make the deterrent, a portion of the penalty, significant enough that that isn't necessary for us to do.
"But are we willing to go there? Of course we would. We have in the past and we will in the future. We're not hoping to do that. That's sort of a death penalty."
France also said NASCAR is investigating reports that crew chiefs Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte and Tony Eury Jr. were at New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend despite their suspensions. All three are banned from the garage area during their suspensions, but the national television and radio broadcasts both reported the Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs were on track property and in communication with their drivers.
One report even said Letarte participated in a Saturday team meeting with Gordon.
And, Eury Jr. apparently parked his motorcoach on a hill inside the race track and communicated with Earnhardt from there. Earnhardt reportedly spotted his crew chief during a caution period, first yelling "Hey Man!" on his radio and then explaining "I just saw a friend out there."
The conversation was described in Earnhardt's post-race media report, and explained as Earnhardt spotted a familiar face who "will return to the Bud pit box next week at Daytona." Eury's suspension ended Sunday and he's scheduled to return to the track this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
France said the crew chiefs being on property and participating in at-track activity is not in the spirit of a suspension and that he met earlier Tuesday with NASCAR president Mike Helton to discuss the matter.
"If that all is accurate, we will be addressing that shortly," France said.
France did not reveal what NASCAR might do to police such activity. Officials can keep suspended team members out of the garage area, but may not be able to prevent them from entering the motorhome lot, the grandstands or the luxury suites.
Keeping them from communicating with the rest of the team, which can be done via telephone or computer, would also be difficult.
Letarte and Knaus must sit out the next five races, and quite possibly planned to be in Daytona this weekend to confer with their teams. Gordon is the current Nextel Cup points leader and Johnson, the defending series champion, is fourth in points.
Other topics France discussed Tuesday were:
- International expansion: France recently traveled to China with his senior management group to tour a track in Shanghai and discuss opportunities in the Far East. NASCAR will make its Canadian debut next month with a Busch Series race in Montreal, and the series already competes in Mexico City.
"We'll be careful of how we proceed, but we'll be looking at building our international platform," he said.
- Going Green: NASCAR switched to unleaded fuel this season, and France said he's been exploring alternative fuels. "It's important for NASCAR to lead in some areas - this being one of them - when it comes to the environment, when it comes to our dependency on foreign oil. It's important for us to stay in a leadership position," he said.
- Lawsuits: NASCAR is fighting a claim by AT&T to replace Cingular as the logos on Jeff Burton's car, a move NASCAR is against because of its exclusivity agreement with rival Nextel. And, France said NASCAR continues to defend itself in an antitrust suit filed by Kentucky Speedway.
- Busch Series sponsorship: France said NASCAR remains on track to have an announcement this summer on a replacement for Anheuser-Busch, which is pulling out as Busch Series title sponsor after this season. "We're going to get a partner for the long haul of the country's second most popular form of motorsports," he said.
But the bulk of his time was spent discussing cheating, which has been prevalent in the sport since the season-opening Daytona 500. Five teams were caught breaking the rules in Daytona, and NASCAR has attempted to ramp up its penalty process each time.
He said Gordon and Johnson's punishment was the strongest to date because the drivers were not given any track time for one day in Sonoma, Calif., and not being able to qualify their cars "pretty much eliminated them from contention of winning that race in our view."
Gordon finished that race in seventh, Johnson was 17th.
"We feel very strongly that we're going to be very, very tough on people that test us with the Car of Tomorrow," France said. "The whole premise is built around not being able to do much fudging with the car." NASCAR disqualified Brian Vickers last week at New Hampshire when his car failed a post-qualifying inspection. Because he is not one of the 35 teams locked into the starting field, the penalty cost him a spot in the race.
But the penalties levied against Gordon, Johnson and Earnhardt have not had the same effect. In fact, Gordon had such a cushion in the standings, he still holds a 156-point lead over Denny Hamlin after losing 100 points.
France said NASCAR won't customize its penalties to impact teams differently.
"The teams that are winning, despite what we may fine them, they are just good teams," France said. "They're going to win when they race with the same rules package everybody else has ... they get through any kind of adversity to a point. "We can't just customize the penalty based on the circumstance. We can't just say that is going to be 200 instead of 100 because he has a big lead. But we can find the right penalties."

[LSC9901]

Now they've got all the talk about what can be done .. lets just see if actions back up the words.

[PettyBlue]

Lsc,do you people ever get into copywrite problems here at this site? I see posts that are not linked,but copy and pasted.

[LSC9901]

I've never been advised of any issues but you can certainly contact Lefty Noob and get his take on it.

[PettyBlue]

You mods,admin,and site owner may want to talk about this.I have seen it happen before and will leave it at that.

[jks812]

Originally Posted by tkj24

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - France also said NASCAR is investigating reports that crew chiefs Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte and Tony Eury Jr. were at New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend despite their suspensions. All three are banned from the garage area during their suspensions, but the national television and radio broadcasts both reported the Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs were on track property and in communication with their drivers.
One report even said Letarte participated in a Saturday team meeting with Gordon.
And, Eury Jr. apparently parked his motorcoach on a hill inside the race track and communicated with Earnhardt from there.

I think when they are suspended they shouldn't be allowed t be there at all. When it was reported Sat. that they were there, Nascar should have escorted all 3 out the gate and said if you come back at any track during your suspension the whole team, driver included, will serve the remainder of the suspension together. At least away from the track it will be alittle harder for the crew chief to call it.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by jks812

I think when they are suspended they shouldn't be allowed t be there at all. When it was reported Sat. that they were there, Nascar should have escorted all 3 out the gate and said if you come back at any track during your suspension the whole team, driver included, will serve the remainder of the suspension together. At least away from the track it will be alittle harder for the crew chief to call it.

According to Pemberton, a NASCAR official, the only thing they can prevent them from doing is anything that requires a NASCAR license. Enetring the track with a ticket seems legal. It might be wrong in its effect but not illegal according to what was said on TV.

[jks812]

Well I guess they decided they can tell them not to come to the track. I'm glad they're doing that.

FOX Sports on MSN - NASCAR - Suspended team members must avoid track

[rodriggle]

It's a tough one to enforce when the driver is still allowed to participate in the race. If they really wanted to, the crew chiefs could make their calls via cell phone and nobody would be the wiser.

Originally Posted by LSC9901

According to Pemberton, a NASCAR official, the only thing they can prevent them from doing is anything that requires a NASCAR license. Enetring the track with a ticket seems legal. It might be wrong in its effect but not illegal according to what was said on TV.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by rodriggle

It's a tough one to enforce when the driver is still allowed to participate in the race. If they really wanted to, the crew chiefs could make their calls via cell phone and nobody would be the wiser.

does anybody believe they aren't in constant contact during the race?

[jks812]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

does anybody believe they aren't in constant contact during the race?

I know they are in contact with the team. Just seems like if they are away from the track it would make it alittle harder. Not impossible, but alot less convient.
If you get suspended from your job, do they still let you come in and do part of your job just not the main part? If your child gets suspended from school, can they still participate in school activities? I know around here they can't. Would be nice if a Nascar suspension also meant that they are actually suspended.

[Pepsi One]

Originally Posted by jks812

I know they are in contact with the team. Just seems like if they are away from the track it would make it alittle harder. Not impossible, but alot less convient.
If you get suspended from your job, do they still let you come in and do part of your job just not the main part? If your child gets suspended from school, can they still participate in school activities? I know around here they can't. Would be nice if a Nascar suspension also meant that they are actually suspended.

Would this be as highly advertised if Gordon, Johnson, and the newest member of team Hendrix Dale Junior didn't finish in the top 5...what if JJ finished 22, Gordon crashed and Junior 12th....then i doubt it....and how do you stop it...sit an official on top of the pit box of the interm CC....maybe....

[tkj24]

War of words escalates between Eury, Jr and NASCAR

Published July 6th, 2007 in NASCAR
“Theoretically, most penalties written severe enough to include a suspension also include a probation,” he said. “If Tony Jr. keeps running his yap we could easily send him home for another six weeks.” -NASCAR’s John Darby
Warning to suspended crew chiefs: Come to the track if you dare. Just don’t brag about it.
That was the message delivered by Nextel Cup series director John Darby prior to Thursday’s practice at Daytona International Speedway.

Personally, I don’t care if he’s watching a race from the grandstands,” Darby said. “When a crew chief that went through that is bold enough to throw it back at us, we’ll react to it.”
NASCAR chairman Brian France said on Tuesday that the governing body had a meeting to address the issue of suspended crew chiefs who continue to do their jobs from locations at the track but outside of the garage.
The meeting came after Tony Eury Jr., the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr., said he worked with the team last week at New Hampshire from a motorcoach on a hill overlooking the track.
Eury said on Thursday he was at five of the six races — including three in a motorcoach in the infield and one in a suite at Lowe’s Motor Speedway — after NASCAR suspended him for having an illegal rear wing mount at Darlington.
The only race he missed was the road course event in Sonoma, Calif., because he didn’t want to ask the motorcoach driver to make a cross-country trip.
While Darby said it is almost impossible to police such activity, he did leave the possibility of further suspension if it is thrown in NASCAR’s face.
“Theoretically, most penalties written severe enough to include a suspension also include a probation,” he said. “If Tony Jr. keeps running his yap we could easily send him home for another six weeks.”

[Pepsi One]

Originally Posted by tkj24

War of words escalates between Eury, Jr and NASCAR

Published July 6th, 2007 in NASCAR
“Theoretically, most penalties written severe enough to include a suspension also include a probation,” he said. “If Tony Jr. keeps running his yap we could easily send him home for another six weeks.” -NASCAR’s John Darby

What do they do when all of their other mistakes are thrown back in their faces! The Chase! Top 35! COT! Toyota! Tony Stewart! Green White Checkers!....etc!