NASCAR fined Denny Hamlin $25,000 for saying he didn't feel NASCAR's much-hyped "Gen-6" cars were easier to pass with than the last generation following the car's only second race at Phoenix last Sunday. From USA Today:
"This is more like what the Generation 5 was at the beginning. The teams hadn't figured out how to get the aero balance right. Right now, you just run single-file and you cannot get around the guy in front of you. You would have placed me in 20th place with 30 (laps) to go, I would have stayed there -- I wouldn't have moved up. It's just one of those things where track position is everything."NASCAR claimed the comments "denigrated" the product, and Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said the comments crossed a line:
"Constructive criticism is one thing, but there are different statements people make that are damaging. We won't tolerate those types of things."
Hamlin said he refuses to pay the fine, even if NASCAR suspends him. But he also said he's no longer talking about competition; he'll only talk about wins and his 2-month old daughter.
The incident follows a Daytona Speedweeks that saw NASCAR's suspension of Jeremy Clements for using a racial slur that it said was in an interview (although only two people heard it), the pulling of a fan's YouTube video of the grandstand accident at Daytona, and a closed door meeting with defending champ Brad Keselowski after he spoke about how NASCAR needs a closer relationship between tracks, sponsors, and drivers.
It's also not NASCAR's first controversy over it's media and free speech policies:
- Last year, NASCAR refused to allow golfer Bubba Watson to drive a "General Lee" from The Dukes of Hazzard to a track, which he had recently purchased at auction.
- ESPN reporters were not allowed on track property from 2001 to 2006; it was also not allowed to use race footage.
- In 2004, the PTI-knockoff "Pit Bull" on Speed was cancelled after one season, with many saying NASCAR was not happy with it's critical content.
- In October 2004, NASCAR penalized Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 25 championship points for saying "shit" in Victory Lane.
- In 1999, NASCAR pulled the licenses of two motorcoach drivers over an incident involving one confronting a black motorcoach driver with a sheet over his head like a Klansman. Ray Labbe, who was not wearing the sheet, said in an rpm2night interview he was actually penalized because of a name he called someone at a private party a year before while intoxicated. He claimed to be so intoxicated, he could not remember saying the word, or even apologizing a minute later.
No comments:
Post a Comment