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Originally Posted by 3fanforever  If NASCAR fines Smoke, or holds it against him for a later day, we'll be right back where we were last year. Drivers who are afraid to say what they feel and think, so they don't upset the troll in the trailer. |
3fan, you ought to remember who used to be the "driver's spokesman". Dale Sr. When things weren't right for the drivers he would go see Bill France Jr. and give him a lecture on what the situation was and France would listen and make some changes. That day is gone. Tony is the closest thing to Dale Sr. in driver credibility right now. Tony does not use the same tactics as Dale Sr. did. Tony rants and raves to the press. Dale Sr. strutted over to the big guy and gave him a piece of his mind. NASCAR does not make themselves open to that type "discussion" as they did in the past.
However, NASCAR is not going to fine Tony Stewart for his "outburst". They realize how his personality is. Here's a quote from Jayski's page as what Mike Helton, NASCAR president said about the situation:
"Tony, we're all well aware of your opinion and you're right to express your opinion, albeit, I think maybe a little bit too strong in this case. What NASCAR asks for Goodyear to do this year as we completely run this new chassis from racetrack to racetrack is, first and foremost, bring a safe tire, a tire that is safe for the competitors to race on. And then bring one that is durable. And certainly bring one that is consistent so that everybody up and down pit road has the same tire as they compete in the events every weekend. I think what we did have in Atlanta was a tire that did not fail and we had a tire that was safe from that aspect and that it delivered in an environment that is a challenge right now because we're going back to a lot of places in '08 with a new chassis, new configurations underneath them by the crew chiefs and the engineers that are throwing challenges at Goodyear. And Goodyear all along the way has stepped up. They have been responsible. They have made a major commitment to put the right tires under NASCAR's national series and we're proud of our relationship with them. I think it is a little bit too much to blame whatever your opinion on Sunday was completely on Goodyear because we're all in this thing together, every crew member up and down pit road, every car owner, every driver, every supplier like Goodyear in the sport that wants it to do good, wants their product to be right. And I think Goodyear has made a commitment to that for NASCAR and for the competitors. Now that doesn't mean we're going to be exactly right every weekend. Sometimes NASCAR does things wrong. We make mistakes and we go back and we learn from them and we fix them."
03-13-2008, 03:10 PM
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