NASCAR fined Carl Edwards $20,000 on Tuesday for intentionally hitting Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car at the end of the Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Edwards also was placed on probation until the end of the year, but was not docked any points for Saturday’s altercation in Brooklyn, Mich. He said he will not appeal the penalty.
“I put everything I can into winning races,” Edwards said. “I was wrecked and I reacted. It was wrong on my part. NASCAR penalized me and I respect that.
“Most important, I apologize if I upset any of my fans or sponsors.”
Edwards was leading the race when Earnhardt spun him out of his way with one lap to go.
Earnhardt went on to win the race under caution, and as he was making that final lap, Edwards drove onto the track and rammed into the side of Earnhardt’s car.
Earnhardt’s hand was hanging out his window when Edwards bashed into his car, and he had to quickly pull it back in to avoid injury.
Edwards later went to Victory Lane, where Earnhardt was being uncharacteristically booed by the fans, and the two had a heated argument during the postrace ceremonies.
Both were summoned to meet with NASCAR president Mike Helton on Sunday morning before the Nextel Cup event.
Prank spurs lawsuit
A former NASCAR team member who was the victim of a 1999 racial prank is suing NASCAR, claiming the sanctioning body failed to deliver on a promise to provide him work after the incident.
David Scott, a former motorcoach driver for car owners Roger Penske and Michael Kranefuss, is seeking back pay and compensatory damages in his suit filed Aug. 8 in New York City.
Scott, who is black, was subjected to racial slurs and harassment in several run-ins with a handful of white motorcoach drivers during the 1999 season. The situation exploded during a July race at New Hampshire International Speedway, when two white motorcoach drivers confronted Scott with one wearing a white pillowcase over his head to imitate a Ku Klux Klansman. The coach drivers, Mike Culberson and Ray Labbe, were fired from their respective teams and NASCAR revoked their work licenses at the track.
Scott claims that during NASCAR’s investigation into the incident that Helton, who was the vice president of competition at the time, gave Scott several ways to get in touch with him and other high-ranking NASCAR officials.
“We’re doing this to make sure that if there are any other incidents you can contact us, and if you work for us there won’t be any problem,” the suit quotes Helton as saying. “We’ll just hire you so we won’t have to worry about anyone bothering you.”
But Scott claims that when the incident became public a few weeks later at a race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., former vice president George Pyne sent a NASCAR plane to the track to immediately fly him home to North Carolina.
“NASCAR is concerned about your safety, there are going to be reporters at the track,” the suit quotes Pyne as saying. “We want to control the situation. We don’t want this to get out of hand. We’re concerned about racing fans throwing objects. This is a move to protect you. People may view you as a troublemaker.”
Scott did not return to the track again in 1999, and accepted a settlement on his contract with Penske and Kranefuss in 2000. But he said he only did so because he believed NASCAR would be hiring him in some capacity, as he claims Helton and Pyne had promised to do.
