Charlotte, N.C. – NASCAR has not ruled out suspending drivers as a deterrent for cheating on the Car of Tomorrow.
Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were docked 100 points each when their cars failed recent inspections. Their crew chiefs were fined $100,000 and suspended for six races apiece, but the drivers have been allowed to compete, and all three are in contention for the Chase for the championship.
“We’d like not to get to (suspending drivers),” chairman Brian France said Tuesday. “We’d like to make the deterrent, a portion of the penalty, significant enough that that isn’t necessary for us to do.
“But are we willing to go there? Of course we would. We have in the past and we will in the future. We’re not hoping to do that. That’s sort of a death penalty.”
France also said NASCAR is investigating reports that crew chiefs Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte and Tony Eury Jr. were at New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend despite their suspensions. All three are banned from the garage area during their suspensions, but the national television and radio broadcasts reported the Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs were on track property and in communication with their drivers.
One report even said Letarte participated in a team meeting with Gordon on Saturday, and Eury Jr. apparently parked his motorcoach on a hill inside the race track and communicated with Earnhardt from there.
Earnhardt reportedly spotted his crew chief during a caution period, first yelling “Hey, man!” on his radio and then said, “I just saw a friend out there.”
The conversation was described in Earnhardt’s post-race media report, and explained that Earnhardt spotted a familiar face who “will return to the Bud pit box next week at Daytona.” Eury’s suspension ended Sunday, and he is scheduled to return to the track this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
France said the crew chiefs being on property and participating in at-track activity is not in the spirit of a suspension and that he met with NASCAR president Mike Helton to discuss the matter on Tuesday.
“If that all is accurate, we will be addressing that shortly,” France said.
France did not reveal what NASCAR might do to police such activity. Officials can keep suspended team members out of the garage area but may not be able to prevent them from entering the motorhome lot, the grandstands or the luxury suites.
Keeping them from communicating with the rest of the team, which can be done via telephone or computer, would also be difficult.
Letarte and Knaus must sit out the next five races, but quite possibly planned to be in Daytona this weekend to confer with their teams.
International expansion
France recently traveled to China with his senior management group to tour a track in Shanghai and discuss opportunities in the Far East. NASCAR will make its Canadian debut next month with a Busch Series race in Montreal, and the series already competes in Mexico City.
“We’ll be careful of how we proceed, but we’ll be looking at building our international platform,” he said.
Going Green
NASCAR switched to unleaded fuel this season, and France said he has been exploring alternative fuels.
“It’s important for NASCAR to lead in some areas – this being one of them – when it comes to the environment, when it comes to our dependency on foreign oil. It’s important for us to stay in a leadership position,” he said.
