Newman and Hamlin were both fined by NASCAR for off track comments.
NASCAR fined two top series drivers for comments they made that were deemed “disparaging to the sport”. One of the drivers was fined upwards of $50,000.00. I am reminded of the line in Bambi where the rabbit character Thumper reflects on the advice of his mother saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” NASCAR must be the Thumper in this situation, because essentially, that’s what they’ve done. Even though the sanctioning body has loosened the reigns this season by re-introducing a “have at it, boys” mentality, it would seem that drivers can only do so as long as they don’t saying anything bad or too honest about NASCAR.
Since this story first broke, the two drivers fined have since admitted that they were the two unlucky people to have their wrists slapped. Denny Hamlin said that a Twitter conversation between him and blogger Jeff Gluck spurred NASCAR’s smack down.
In Hamlin’s case, he was discussing and to some degree challenging NASCAR’s actions surrounding throwing cautions to tighten up cars at the end of races, with specific regards to the recent Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland. The discussion of phantom cautions has been one of the cornerstone hot topics among the NASCAR community for years, and even with having his own opinions about the situation, Hamlin never seemed to defame the sport or NASCAR directly. It almost seems like NASCAR fined Hamlin for thinking the wrong thing.
As for Newman, reports spell out that his fine was for remarks made after the Talledega Cup race that saw the event extended by 12 laps thanks to NASCAR’s new rules on using the Green-White-Checkered at the end of races. Obviously, Newman is not a fan… or at least wasn’t happy about the circumstances that the GWC rules circling Talledega. In any event, one would think that the driver’s opinions would just stay that, opinions.
This makes me wonder more about the secret side of NASCAR. I wonder about how many other drivers and been told, and threatened about what they say in public. In addition, what will this mean for the level of open communication we have enjoyed with drivers and teams up to this point? Are we going to loose some of the best, most honest commentary by these athletes now because of a fear that in expressing themselves, they will face severe consequences from NASCAR? Finally, are the penalties for saying something bad about NASCAR going to result in points deductions? Suspensions? Will the words that come out of a drivers mouth cost that driver a championship?
