NASCAR reviewing Earnhardt Jr. caution
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive March 30, 2004
6:22 PM EST (2322 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have only gotten a one-day stay of penalties from NASCAR officials for intentionally spinning his No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet to cause a caution in the Food City 500.
"We're still in the process of reviewing what took place," NASCAR spokesman Herb Branham said early Tuesday evening. "We're gathering all the information and examining all the details, including what was said, post-race."
The incident, which was almost comical at the time, looms as the sport's latest budding controversy.
With 69 laps remaining and leader and eventual race winner Kurt Busch coming up behind him to put him a lap down, Earnhardt spun his car out in Turn 2, bringing out the event's eighth caution.
Earnhardt reportedly told his crew on his in-car radio that he had intentionally spun his car -- which was handling poorly due to loose lug nuts -- to prevent himself from losing a lap.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
While his in-car comments indicated he wasn't sure he didn't have a tire deflating to cause the ill handling, Earnhardt repeated the contention that he'd purposely spun in post-race media interviews and bristled when asked about the decision to actually reveal the tactic as opposed to keeping his mouth shut.
"What was I supposed to do -- go a lap down?" Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt ended up finishing the race 11th. With 21 cars finishing on the lead lap, if Earnhardt had either pitted under green or continued to slide back through the field, he would have taken an even worse hit in the points.
Going to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, Earnhardt is third in the standings, 41 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.
Labonte: 'There probably should be something done'
Two days after the event, some of Earnhardt's closest competitors said they hardly knew what to make of his act -- or his decision to broadcast it.
Bobby Labonte: "I kind of had to laugh because I thought, 'I'd never admit that.'"
A decision on whether or even how to punish is expected Wednesday, sources said, amidst public speculation that the popular Earnhardt's deed would go unpunished.
Bobby Labonte, 2000 NASCAR champion, said that was a mistake.
"There probably should be something done," Labonte said. "I don't know what the penalty should be or could be, but it definitely needs to be where it doesn't matter who you are (if a penalty is or isn't issued)."
Incidents of drivers being penalized for artificially causing cautions in a NASCAR race have been few and far between. In a recent edition of The Winston NASCAR all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway Kurt Busch was penalized after he admitted to spinning Robby Gordon because Busch "needed a caution."
In a couple instances, drivers were caught tossing pieces of roll bar padding out of their cars in an attempt to cause a caution.
Everyone has a short track story about a competitor that does something with his car to create a caution and Labonte is no different. His disgust was registered in a race, however.
"I was leading a race a couple of years ago when Ricky Craven stopped on the race track between (Turns) 1 and 2 at Martinsville," Labonte said. "He had some tire thing and kind of wrecked up there anyway. He didn't have to stop, but he stopped in the corner and caused a caution.
"I don't know whether I ended up winning or losing, but it was one of those deals where it was a deliberate deal (and) that kind of ticks you off as a competitor when it doesn't go in your favor."
Labonte said he was leaving the speedway Sunday when he heard Earnhardt's remarks.
"I kind of had to laugh because I thought, 'I'd never admit that,'" Labonte said. "But that's too late."
Labonte did not take a strong stance on whether a driver deliberately spinning his car could inadvertently involve other competitors and damage their cars -- but was unequivocal in his belief that cautions should be avoided if at all possible.
"On a restart, if you listen to the announcers, cautions breed cautions (and) if you believe that, then obviously having a caution that wasn't really necessary breeds another caution," Labonte said. "You don't want to see it happen if it doesn't have to happen -- let's put it that way."
Ryan Newman: "I don't think he should be penalized because there is no rule against it as we speak."
Ryan Newman, who has put himself into the forefront of the Nextel Cup scene thanks to winning 11 poles and eight races last season and three Bud Poles already in 2004, said a definitive rule is needed, along with equal enforcement.
"I think Junior opened the door for that potential as far as creating your own caution and spinning a guy out because you're getting ready to get lapped or vice versa," Newman said. "The potential has always been there.
"Take for instance a track like Pocono and a plug wire falls off five laps into the race. You could come off Turn 1 and spin and it's so wide you don't hit anything. You've caused your own yellow. (and) you can get that position back, get your lap back all for spinning out and not hitting anything.
"As long as there's not a rule against spinning yourself out or spinning someone else out, which there is a judgment call on, there should be no penalty for it."
Both Newman and his crew chief, Matt Borland, agreed the current rules package made the situation a lot more enticing for a driver willing to bend an already vague concept.
"I think the biggest rule is freezing the field under caution," Borland said. "Basically if the field is frozen you can create your own caution and you don't get penalized for it because the field is frozen as soon as the caution happens.
"If you're in a situation where you might go a lap down, you can wreck yourself (or) you can wreck someone else so you won't go a lap down.
"Before, you knew you had the option that if you went a lap down and could get the car right (we could) race our way back up front. Now, if you get a lap down or two laps down, your day is pretty much over at that point.
"I think you're getting guys more desperate not to get in that situation, so they're using the rules to get themselves out of that boat."
Newman appeared to be torn between the obvious potential benefit of pulling off the same deal and supporting a fellow driver and the need to have well-written rules.
"No. 1, I don't think he should be penalized because there is no rule against it as we speak (and) for that reason, if there is no rule against it, then you can't penalize a person," Newman said of penalizing Earnhardt. "It'd have to be a judgment call."
Newman admitted that Junior's comments throw the biggest curve into understanding, or administering, to the situation.
"They'll have to be listening to Junior's radio and find out if he has a tire going down or a loose lug or some reason he'd spin himself out to make that judgment call," Newman said. "They've been trying to do that (get inside a driver's head) for 50 years, but I think there's a different perspective to it with what Junior did."
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! That's too cool. I had to lol when I saw your reasoning for picking Jr. 
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It was so funny... I thanked Tony for posing with Flat Stanley at the last Atlanta signing (he got a big chuckle over the fact that the little boy asked "Who's that holding my Flat Stanley" as mom filled him in on who Tony is...)....then Andy tells Tony, "Hey, I got your logo phone and had to call Nextel since something was missing" Tony looks up with a question on his face and Andy says that he told the folks at Nextel that Tony's private ID was missing, so he wasn't able to 2-way call him and that Nextel said he'd have to get that from Tony. 
Tony started laughing and said that he doesn't have a Nextel yet.... It was really funny!!!!
