NASCAR recently stripped Peyton Sellers of a win in the Camping World East Series for finding an illegal shock in post-race inspection. It’s been quite a few years since NASCAR has reversed the ruling on a win in any of their top-three series. Is this something they should consider making common practice?

TZ:  Absolutely not. From a standpoint of doing what’s right, sure, it makes sense that if a guy wins a race and gets caught cheating – or, rather failing to meet the requirements – that he doesn’t get rewarded with the win. However, sometimes we have to go along with “the man” and see things from the business point of view. I actually like NASCAR’s explanation on why they didn’t take the win away from Carl Edwards at California … because as much money as these fans spend to go to the weekend’s events, the last thing they want is for the fans to leave the stands and go all the way home only to find out that the guy they watched cross the line first didn’t actually win the race.

Bruce: I think it should be.  If someone merits a penalty that costs them points and funds and their win is deemed due to the alteration of their equipment, then they should lose the position they finished in for some undetermined amount of positions.  The penalties are not that effective these days.  The monies fined are less than the monies won after all is said and done, so the risk pays for itself.  Heck, if they had to consider answering to their sponsors if they got caught cheating, it would be a different scenario.

Charlie:  I was shocked when I saw this ruling. I don’t know any details of the infraction(s) and I really don’t, in this case, care. Big Bill France ruled – if I remember my NASCAR history – after the very first NASCAR sanctioned race – that the fans should know the race winner when they leave the track. That philosophy has worked for over 50 years. Is it always perfect? Nope. Is it the NASCAR way? Yep. I’ll take that.

The Rest of the Discussion:
- Does Dale Earnhardt Day Warrant the Attention it Gets on April 29?
- Would NASCAR be better off if it had never instituted restrictor plates?

Post from: EveryJoe

Loose in Turn 3 (5/02/08)

Santerre said to reporters, “Needless to say we are shocked and disappointed. We are being made an example … We admit there was a rules infraction, but it was a shock to us with as much as it was unintentional and unknown prior to post-race inspection.”

The team is obviously disappointed that they have been penalized with the loss of their race win on top of whatever other penalties NASCAR decides to hand to them, but to make matters worse, they deemed the car with a  30th place finish. The win was then awarded to Sellers’ teammate and original second-place finisher, Austin Dillon – grandson to Sprint Cup Series car owner, Richard Childress.

In Other News:
- Due to the Nationwide Series’ race in Talladega and the Craftsman Truck Series race in Kansas both being held on Saturday, Kyle Busch has conceded running the truck race this weekend. The series’ points leader will be replaced in the no. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports truck by Shane Sieg. Shane has made 29 career starts in the truck series and has posted two top-ten finishes. One of those top-ten’s actually came behind the wheel of a Billy Ballew Motorsports truck last year at Loudon.

- Haas CNC Racing’s recent release of Jeremy Mayfield has left them scrambling for drivers week-to-week to fill the seat behind the wheel of their no. 70 Chevy Impala. The first week after firing Mayfield, they put Johnny Sauter in the car at Phoenix en route to a 37th place finish, and this weekend they’ll be hoping for better results with Ken Schrader at the helm. The team has recently locked on another driver for at least two of the season’s events with Max Papis scheduled to drive the car at both of the road course races in Watkins Glen and Infineon.

Post from: EveryJoe

NASCAR Taketh Away