Is NASCAR Setting a Double Standard?
Following the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte on Saturday, NASCAR fined two of the four drivers involved in the epic post-race fireworks on Tuesday, according to Nate Ryan of USA Today.
Brad Keselowski was fined $50,000 and Tony Stewart was fined $25,000. Both drivers were placed on probation through to the Phoenix race on November 9.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, both of whom were also involved in the post-race activities in the garage, weren't punished.
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An argument can be made as to how the punishments for Stewart and Keselowski were justified. For one, Keselowski seemed out of control chasing down Hamlin on the cool-down lap, attempting to spin the No. 11 out before ramming the No. 20 of Kenseth and the No. 14 of Stewart on pit road. Afterwards, he sped through the garage, allegedly slamming into equipment and burning out in one of the stalls.
Stewart, meanwhile, retaliated on pit road after Keselowski rear-ended him by reversing his Chevy into Keselowski's front end, caving in the nose of his Ford.
Both drivers used their cars to express anger or frustration, and that is undoubtedly a dangerous way to go about things.
However, despite being justifiably angry with Keselowski, Hamlin wasn't just guilty for throwing a towel at Keselowski before being led away by crew. If NASCAR has their logic for punishment correct by punishing drivers who used their bumpers after the race, then Hamlin should also have been fined for brake-checking the No. 2.
Also, recent video evidence shows that Hamlin was in the garage with Keselowski as well, chasing him through the garage area.
Where's his fine?
Kenseth, meanwhile, decided to go after Keselowski between the haulers and attempted to reconfigure his face in the process. Granted, Kenseth's anger was justified, and he used his fists instead of his bumper, but NASCAR is seriously mistaken if they think physical actions can't hurt a targeted driver.
Kenseth could have just as easily harmed Keselowski in the physical post-race scuffle.
So where's his fine?
It can be said that Hamlin and Kenseth weren't fined because they were on camera expressing their anger through physical action. Does NASCAR not remember the May race at Richmond?
Casey Mears and Marcos Ambrose, both drivers who aren't nearly as large as the four drivers involved in Saturday's melee, were both fined for their fist fight in the garage following the end of the race. The fight garnered a lot of attention for NASCAR.
So back to the events of Saturday night. Where are Hamlin's and Kenseth's fines? Why is Stewart being fined along with Keselowski?
Two unsettling possibilities arise, none of which have anything to do with NASCAR's constant problem with consistent punishment.
The first of which is that Stewart will be treated differently from now on because of his part in this incident that he wasn't at fault for. It could be speculated that the sanctioning body will forever hold him to a different standard when it comes to conduct because of his reaction.
It's a ridiculous way to go about things. Stewart wasn't ramming anything but the pace car. He wasn't doing burnouts in the garage. He wasn't trying to re-enact the chase scene from Bullitt. He also wasn't trying to rip Keselowski's spleen out through his throat.
Instead, he was carelessly ran into on pit road by Keselowski and decided to send a little message to Keselowski to tell him to cool it by ramming him. It would do Stewart a world of good to stay quiet for the foreseeable future, but that's not his style.
The other possibility is just as ugly. Could the reason Hamlin and Kenseth weren't fined is because NASCAR was just looking for some extra PR? After all, both drivers are Chase drivers.
Maybe they want to show that this new format really is something special and stuff like what happened in Charlotte is only sweetening the deal. Maybe they want to show how intense things are in NASCAR.
In short, they might want to bring back the 1979 Daytona 500.
However, this would backfire mightily. When it comes to fines, third-rate hack job "news" programs like Good Morning America would rather speak more on Stewart's involvement in the fracas and make it sound like he was there throttling Keselowski before discussing his tragic accident in New York, all in all making him sound like a loose cannon. Programs like that want to speak about those who were fined instead of all the guilty parties.
A PR stunt wouldn't benefit NASCAR.
Of course, Keselowski was also fined and justly so. His outbursts were what set this bomb off, and it's obvious that Keselowski cannot control himself when angry. But Stewart simply backed into him, and that's all. His actions had the least impact on the post-race fights.
Yet he gets ranked in there with a driver who made a rash of horrible decisions and risked the safety of more than one person. That isn't fair to Stewart, and surely someone at NASCAR is aware of that.
It's a likelihood that even NASCAR doesn't take their punishment and fining criteria seriously anymore. It's become a joke. They prefer to err on the side of what looks good. They're not consistent in their punishment these days.
It's simple. Either fine them all or don't fine anyone. Why is that such a difficult concept to grasp?
Follow Joseph on Twitter: @Shelton500.
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