MWR Penalties ~ Did NASCAR Get It Right Or Blow The Call?
09/11/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
On Monday evening, NASCAR held a press conference to discuss the actions of Michael Waltrip Racing on Saturday night at Richmond. MWR was found guilty in violation of section 12-4 of the NASCAR rule book. This is, of course, the ever so often used “Actions Detrimental to Stock Car Racing” clause which is violated every time someone does anything wrong in the eyes of NASCAR. In this case, it is NASCAR’s charge that Michael Waltrip Racing conspired to alter or manipulate the outcome of a race.
NASCAR claims that Brian Vickers, driving the No. 55 Toyota, was instructed to bring his car down to his pit stall in the final laps of the race. This would allow the No. 56 Toyota of Martin Truex, Jr. to advance one additional spot in the race standings, and secure a spot in the 2013 Chase for the Championship. Also combined with this is the spin of Clint Bowyer, and whether or not it was intentional.
NASCAR president Mike Helton stated that the piece of evidence of manipulation which was the most clear was the radio conversation in the No. 55 Toyota. Regarding Bowyer’s spin, Helton stated that “cars spin out. We have cautions. There's a lot of things that happen on the racetrack that people speculate about why it happened or how it happened. Sometimes there's conclusive evidence. More often than not, though, you don't know exactly what happened. But the collection of all the information we collected from Saturday night led us to the team-wide reaction as opposed to an individual car.”
The reaction Helton spoke of was a set of severe penalties, two of which had no ultimate impact. The sanctioning body, as a result of these charges, has fined team owner Michael Waltrip $300,000.00. Additionally, team manager Ty Norris, responsible for making the call to bring the No. 55 to the pit area, has been suspended indefinitely. Michael Waltrip Racing drivers Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, Jr. and Brian Vickers were each penalized 50 Championship Driver Points and 50 Championship Owner Points.
In regards to Vickers’ penalty, as he is not eligible to win the Sprint Cup Series Championship, the penalization of driver points equates to nothing. NASCAR also announced that the points deduction penalties would take place after the finish of the race at Richmond, but before the reseeding of the drivers in the Chase by wins. Bowyer was in third place in the Championship standings, 13 points in arrears. After the reseeding, Bowyer would have been placed eighth in the standing, 15 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. The penalty of 50 Driver’s Points knocked Bowyer from third place in points down to seventh, sixty-three points behind. After the reseeding, Bowyer is now eighth in the standings, 15 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, which is, again, a zero effect punishment.
The driver who the penalties hurt the most is Martin Truex, Jr. Truex’s 50 point penalty dropped him to seventeenth place in the standings, and ultimately out of the Chase for the Championship. The beneficiary of Truex’s ousting is none other than the driver who lost the most when Bowyer’s car went for its little sideways ride. Ryan Newman was in position to win Saturday night’s race at Richmond. When Bowyer spun, pit stops occurred and Newman was unable to keep his first place position. He restarted fifth, and was only able to move up two spots before the race ended. The win would have been enough to put Newman into the Chase. Short a second win and a spot in the Chase, Newman was down and out. Now, as a result of the penalties handed down to Michael Waltrip Racing by NASCAR, Truex is out, and Newman is back in.
NASCAR should be applauded for making this decision. Doing nothing would have cast an even darker shadow on a race weekend already filled with controversy. The suspension to Ty Norris is severe and just, as is the $300,000.00 fine to Michael Waltrip, and the 50 point penalty to Martin Truex, Jr. The penalties to Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, while seemingly empty, are consistent. Treating one driver differently because of where the infractions fell in the season would have been a mistake, as would the treatment of a driver in a different manner because they are running for a Championship in a different series.
NASCAR has often been scrutinized for inconsistency, but in a sport of high speed and inches, nothing is hardly ever as clear as the black and white on the checkered flag which every driver wishes to see first. Much like baseball, there are balls and strikes, and much like football, infractions can occur almost constantly. While the nature of our sport ensures the continuance of that scrutiny by the media, the fans, and the competitors, that it will always exist, everyone should know that, at least in this situation, NASCAR got it right.
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