IT'S RAINING ROLL-BAR PADDING.

[flamehothead]

I have replayed the roll bar padding coming OUT OF R.Gordons car over and over again. I thought it was funny when R.Gordon said that it must have come from the car in front of him. I consider that an insult coming from him. It was the PADDING not the METAL TUBING itself. When I watch the replay I am looking in front of his car and after 10 time's of replaying it I keep coming to the same conclusion. Their is nothing until he goes by. He said that it came from the rear of the car. I'm not sure if he knows it or not but you don't have to have padding in the TRUNK. I can't say that I am 100% positive that it came from the 7 car but it is NOT in front of him. Their is nothing on the track until he goes by and then it MAGICLLY appears. I have seen gloves and other INTERIOR parts on the OUTSIDE of the car and their have been no penalties that I am aware of. I do remember when J.Spencer threw padding out a little to obvious but I am not sure if he got in any trouble or not. Finally I do agree with J.Burton that their should be a very HARSH penality for this. He said they should be fined $100,000,185 points taken from the driver. I say take it a step further give them a nice BIG suspension, Maybe a couple of races or so. Playing games like this could cost someone the Championship.

[Chris]

I think I kinda agree...
I didn't see anything on the track before Robby went by (altho to be fair it could of been hard to see)
IMHO when Robby said "it must have come from the rear" I think he meant he ran over it and it was so light it flew up in the air out the rear of the car...
I think it looks like it car OUT the car window...
I mean he had that "oops I'm busted" look on his face when they interviewed him anyway.
I like Robby,... I don't think he gets enough credit as a driver.  He's got a lot of talent as a driver, just never had as good equipment as is supplied by Roush, Hendrick, etc... I'm sure he could run up front all the time with equipment like that.

In any event back when Earnhardt Jr spun himself out at Bristol to bring out a yellow flag,.. he got a 25 point penalty.  I kinda see this as the same thing.  If Nascar was on the ball,.. all they had to do was go and check the car and see IF a piece of padding was missing from Robbys car and they would of known.  ALSO it would have been missing from REACH of the driver.

I think Burton was mad,.. and any "major" penalty like he eluded to is out of line.  On the other hand, it can't be a slap on the wrist either.  25 points to get to stay on the lead lap is well worth it.  You can turn that into a win.  SO I can see it being 50 or so,.. and a fine, but not more than $25,000

I really don't know if to expect ANYTHING or not from this... maybe maybe not.  SInce NBC made a big splash out of it on TV,.. Nascar may feel they have to??

[Tyyrus]

Well Nascar did the dirty deed , Fined Gordon $15,000 & further penalized him 50 Dr. Pts & 50 Owns Pts and put on Probation until Dec.31st...Crew Chief Fined additional $10,000 ! Whadda ya think of that..Eh !!

[Chris]

SO I can see it being 50 or so,.. and a fine, but not more than $25,000

Hey... not tooting my own horn...
but I kinda nailed this one...
I figured they'd do more than 25 points like they did with Jr.... especially since K. Wallace SAID they covered NOT throwing anything on the track in the drivers meeting every week
If they got video to catch someone doing it,.. I kinda figure the penalty was gonna be 50 points... the money was no big deal.  I figured $25,000 max,.. and it was just $15,000

Gee... gotta go refigure the points for my fantasy now....
The way it works is,.. if anyone picks that driver,.. you LOSE points if they get penalized just like they did.... so I know some folks are gonna lose 50 points.  think the winner this week had him.. hhuumm

[falcon325]

Well Nascar did the dirty deed , Fined Gordon $15,000 & further penalized him 50 Dr. Pts & 50 Owns Pts and put on Probation until Dec.31st...Crew Chief Fined additional $10,000 ! Whadda ya think of that..Eh !!

They ought to sentence the boy to six months in acting school.  He's GOT to work on his "who me, cheat?" look.

Once again, NA$CAR's penalty seems totally random.  When Junior spun himself out at Bristol, NA$CAR hit him up for 25 points.  He saved himself over 40 points.  The lesson there...?

[flamehothead]

First of all I would like to say welcome to falcon325. I knew R.Gordon did it as soon as they interviewed him. I watched the interview again now that the cat's out of the bag and you can see that he is very pale kinda like he just seen a ghost. That's the whole problem with Nascar they don't seem to have any type of SET penalties. I will say that they have one hell of a GRAY area though . I think anytime a team is caught cheating by using part's that are not approved by Nascar should have a set of rule's for that area. Anytime a driver get's caught throwing something out of the car or spinning themselves out or causing a caution to progress in the field should have a different set of rules. I also think that the penalties for causing a caution should be a little more harsh than the others, Because a that driver could change the whole outcome of the race or the Championship and if that is not enough it could cause an accident and get someone hurt. I wonder if all of this was worth it to R.Gordon and I'm SURE that Ford and all of his sponsors are loving him right now.ROBBY GORDON WHAT A JOKE.

[racin_girl72]

I agree with Falcon, what's the lesson there if you're docked only 25 points.  If you're going to do something to get the yellow you need chances are you're going to make that 25 up on the track without much problem.

I thought Robby looked guilty that night too.  He was too calm when he was denying what he did.  If he really hadn't done it I would have thought he would have argued it a bit harder than he did. 

At least NASCAR did something though.

[Chris]

well.. now let me throw THIS in...
Lets go back in time, and look at whats happened...
When Jr spun himself out on purpose Nascar was not really penalizing any one "POINTS"...
Money fines,.. but not really many points fines... SO at that point a 25 point fine was a lot.

NOW,.. 25 points is the "norm" or minimum... so to show it's serious Nascar penalizes something above whats normal (like it did with Jr).. so they penalzed 50 points.
That was why I predicted they would penalize Gordon 50 points above.
I can see some folks saying in SOME instances Nascar is NOT consistant,.. but when things happen YEARS apart,... and things have changed like this,.. I think 'proportional' is more the key.

Being consistent is important... but I look at recent things that have happened, and how Nascar reacted (same or different penalties)

[flamehothead]

I know there has to be a way that Nascar could have a set of rule's so you wouldn't have these different fine's whether it is point's or cash. Like I said in my earlier post they could take x amount of point's and fine's for thing's such as ride height(to low or to high),unapproved part's such as shock's,spring's,spoiler not being at the right angle and so on. And then you have Rule's for thing's off of the track such as Bad language,fighting or the best in my opinion is, Your spouse going to another War Wagon to argue with another Spouse. That was a Classic lol. And another was J.Gordon shoving M.Kenseth nobody was expecting that or at least I wasn't. I don't think they should mix all of these rule's together. You can't take x amount of point's and x amount of dollar's today and then change it for tomorrow. I'm sure you see the point that I am trying to make. It should be the SAME for every driver.

[Cangal48]

There is ABSOLUTELY no consistency in the NASCAR RULE BOOK!!!!!  $15,000.00 fine to Robbie, is like peeling a sponsor logo off the car side panels, holding it hostage until the ref calls foul!!!!

[Chris]

Oh I can agree,.. there's no consistency in the rule book,...
And I see what you are getting at FHH... can't say I disagree.
Be nice to see nascar say "the infraction is X points,... this infraction is Y points, and so on...
Of course if they did that,.. they would paint themselves into a corner,.. then they couldn't penalize some driver,.. let off their 'favorite' teams,.. etc etc...
it's all politics....
who ya know and who ya blow...

[flamehothead]

Thank You Chris. That is excactly what I was trying to say. I see what you are saying about not being able to lower your price for your favorite. Another reason may be that Mr.France may need to but one of his kid's a new car and he will raise the price if he need's to. I used to think that Nascar was the best thing since Sliced Bread, But anymore it make's me sick to think about all of the driver's in the past and what they had to do to get the sport where it was a couple of year's ago. And for what reason? Why can't their be one thing in this world that is not POLITICS? Sorry about the Venting, But it feel's good sometime's

[Cangal48]

Received an interesting article today pertaining to "NASCAR RULE CHANGES", additionally to decrease in ticket sales, listening to NASCAR fans, exhuberent souvenior prices, etc. etc.  France said, "the NASCAR fans, drivers and sponsors have spoken, it's time to listen and to fulfill the obligations to enable increase sponsorship in the sport, increase fan awareness and to reach out to fans around the globe."  He spoke about consistency?? which is the #1 problem for RULE BOOK INFRACTIONS. 

It is my opinion, to make a sport as successful as pro-football, baseball, hockey, etc. etc. your plan of action has to be CONSISTENCY, CONTINUITY WHEN IT COMES TO PENALTY ASSESSMENTS, and UNBIASED reporting and colour commentating by the big media corporations.  In order to increase NASCAR's ever growing popularity, TPTB will have to reach out globelly in advertising sales and service.  The cost of memorabilia should be within reason.  Drivers should render themselves more accessible (during their off times) to fans from around the world, not just in the US. 

NASCAR should be aware that their are 42 DRIVERS IN THE FIELD, not 1 DRIVER NAMED JR. 

Nancy

[Tyyrus]

Yup , as you all have indicated , lots of grey area in Nascar's rather vague Rules & Regulations..Baby !

Intentionally , all the way , just to ensure they can play their favorite Trump Card when they deem fit.
Folled most of the people most of the time , but apparently they have been informed that they have'nt fooled  all of us all of the time ...Man !

So , they have wised up have they...well I,am a little to long in the tooth...ta believe in tooth fairies and such  , so I,ll have ta say I,am passin through ..so ya goiin ta hav ta show me 1st...Baby !!

[falcon325]

 Drivers should render themselves more accessible (during their off times) to fans from around the world, not just in the US. 
 

First, Cangal, I need to tell you that I’ve got relatives in Raleigh, NC and they tell me that they’re STILL tryin’ to figure out how much slaw & BBQ that big ol’ silver cup will hold.  Heh, heh, heh. 

I know, I know.  I'm goin' to hell for saying things like that!   

Actually, the Hurricane fans really enjoyed playing Edmonton and said, for the most part, the Edmonton fans were good people (much nicer than those nasty ol' yankees from DE-troit or Chi-town or, heaven forbid NEW YORK CITY).

As for driver appearances up there in the Frozen North, I think all of us fans should take it easy on our favorite drivers.  Appearances are probably the worst hardest part of a driver’s job.  All the fans want a piece of their time.  And, what I think is worse, on the rare occasion that fans get to interact with a driver, typically, they want to use that time to shove everything from a piece of paper to a baby’s bottom in the driver’s face for his autograph.  Writer’s cramp is an occupational hazard.  And a non-trivial percentage of what the driver signs is heading straight to Ebay. 

I’m fortunate enough to have a few contacts in the garage area and, over the years, have had a few opportunities to meet drivers in more relaxed settings.  It’s clear how much more they enjoy chatting with fans rather than standing there, head down, scribbling on pieces of paper and babies’ butts for hours on end. 

I took two daughters (one in high school, the other just starting college) to a truck race up in South Boston, Virginia, back in 2001.  South Boston is a small enough track that they could still observe an old short-track custom.  A couple of hours before the race, the drivers came out on the pit wall and the fans were allowed to cross the track for autographs.  As we went down the line, there were a few opportunities to chat, and it was a bit more relaxed for the guys than the formal sessions were they just sit at a table and scribble.  When we came up to Joe Ruttman, I noticed a cute little girl about five years old standing next to him trying her best to hand out pre-signed autograph cards.  But the fans all wanted to actually see Joe sign their cards and they were just ignoring her.  With three daughters of my own, I bent over and took a card from her and said, “Good help you got here, Joe.”  His face lit up like a Christmas tree.  “That’s my grand-daughter,” he said, and introduced us to another, older little girl standing on his other side.  The young woman standing behind him was his daughter and the two girls’ mother.  We spent a good ten minutes talking to Joe and his daughter about taking daughters to races.  They were both telling stories and laughing.  Other fans filed by and Joe kept writing his name, but he kept on chatting with us.  It was pretty clear he had much rather just talk to fans than do the whole autograph thing. 

So if you do lure drivers up to Canada, give ‘em a break.