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Softer Penalty Shows NASCAR Is Loosening Up

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH - In placing Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch on probation for six races Tuesday, NASCAR officials cited favorite rule 12-4-A, which covers "actions detrimental to stock car racing."

Anybody who has been paying attention to this story knows the altercation between Stewart and Busch on Friday night actually did stock car racing a world of good.

TV ratings for Saturday night's Bud Shootout on Fox were up 6 percent. Even if that had more to do with Dale Earnhardt Jr. making his first start with Hendrick Motorsports than "what really happened in the NASCAR hauler," there's no doubt Stewart-Busch has created interest.

The prospect that one driver known for his blustery temper actually punched another who isn't well-liked while standing in front of NASCAR officials has even other drivers buzzing.

Hate, rivalry and a little smack talk are good, and NASCAR, which has come under fire for being too homogenized and vanilla, knows it. It's why NASCAR CEO Brian France said at his preseason news conference in January that drivers would be allowed to show more emotion and personality.

And it's why Tuesday's penalty was merely a vague warning that carries no specific set of escalating consequences.

Asked if Stewart and Busch might have drawn a harsher penalty last year, NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said, "It probably would have been different; let's put it that way."

'They're Gladiators'

One of the hardest things NASCAR has to do is balance the entertainment value of emotional reactions and free speech with the need to maintain professional behavior that's becoming of a major-league sport.

Recognizing that blustery, colorful, larger-than life drivers who didn't get A's in conduct are a big part of what made racing popular, NASCAR appears ready to move the line a little.

Team owner Rick Hendrick, one of the more proper people in racing, thinks that's the right approach.

"I think they ought to let them fight when they get out of the car," he joked during the media tour stop at Hendrick Motorsports last month. "But no, I think the fans want to see that enthusiasm. It's a spirited competition. They're gladiators, and I think you ought to let them go at it a little bit."

Stewart and Busch had what Pemberton called a "racing incident" during Bud Shootout practice. Stewart tagged Busch from behind, and both drivers spun out.

Busch, obviously angry, pulled beside Stewart and banged into the side of his No. 20 Toyota three times as the two drivers were pulling onto pit road. After Busch briefly blocked Stewart on pit road, NASCAR officials called both drivers into their hauler for a chat.

Circus Scene

It was in the hauler, behind closed doors and with a throng of media waiting outside, that Busch and Stewart had the ugliest part of their confrontation. Several media outlets, citing unnamed sources, reported that Stewart struck Busch.

The drivers aren't saying, and NASCAR officials are maintaining their mantra of "what's said in the hauler stays in the hauler." But the drivers received the same penalty, even though videotape clearly shows Stewart did nothing wrong as the cars were coming down pit road.

"How they conducted themselves after the accident coming onto pit road and from there through the rest of the evening is why the penalties are equal," Pemberton said.

Busch had just gotten off probation for getting mad at Stewart at Dover in June, pulling up beside him and nearly running over one of Stewart's crewmen. Busch was fined $100,000 and docked 100 points for that one.

Stewart, of course, has been on probation too many times to count.

Longtime NASCAR publicist and vice president Jim Hunter summed up the quandary NASCAR finds itself in when policing driver emotions.

"Our fans want the unfiltered," he said. "But sometimes, the unfiltered is just not acceptable."

Tuesday's decision suggests a little more is going to get through the filter.

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