Stewart’s punishment still controversial
Jimmy Spencer punched someone and was suspended. Tony Stewart had a similar confrontation and is allowed to race.
Different rules for different drivers?
That was the debate Thursday in the garage at Daytona International Speedway. There, NASCAR was being scrutinized for its punishment of Stewart for his postrace altercation with Brian Vickers.
Stewart was fined $50,000, docked 25 championship points and placed on probation until Aug. 18 for allegedly striking Vickers after the race Sunday in Sonoma, Calif.
“I think Tony should feel fortunate that the penalty wasn’t more severe,” driver Jeff Burton said Thursday. “I think Tony has some issues that he needs to figure out and the people around him need to find a way to help him do that.
“The talk in the garage is he got off easily.”
A year ago, Spencer was suspended for one race for punching Kurt Busch following a race in Michigan.
That precedent — plus the “parking” of Kevin Harvick for one race in 2002 for bad behavior — led most to believe that NASCAR would take away Stewart’s car keys for the Pepsi 400 on Saturday night.
Instead, NASCAR decided not to suspend the 2002 series champion. Although many competitors wondered why, Stewart said his actions didn’t warrant being parked.
“I’m not sure I totally agree with the punishment,” he said. “I know other people have disagreed and said I probably should have been parked this week.”
Although he’s been openly criticized this season for aggressive driving, hitting Vickers during a confrontation over an on-track accident last week was his first major infraction in some time.
“It’s been almost two years since I did something really stupid, so I guess I was kind of due to a certain degree,” Stewart said. “I knew not to hit him, and I wasn’t even mad enough to hit him. It just shows that you’ve got to control that kind of frustration.”
But if hitting another driver doesn’t get him suspended, just what does Stewart have to do to get NASCAR to crack down on him? Conspiracy theorists spent the day asking that and opinions being floated ranged from Stewart driving for popular car owner Joe Gibbs, his sponsor being Home Depot — also an official NASCAR sponsor — and Stewart being too big of a star to be forced to sit out.
Nextel Cup series director John Darby said Spencer asked him why Stewart received a lighter penalty. Darby said in Spencer’s case, the cameras and audio in Busch’s car picked up the entire confrontation and the punch to Busch’s face. In Stewart’s situation, all NASCAR had were comments from Vickers, Stewart and other witnesses.
Pepsi 400 qualifying
Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Pepsi 400, his third straight on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit.
Gordon’s lap of 198.659 mph bested DEI’s Michael Waltrip, who qualified second to put a pair of Chevrolets on the front row. It was the fourth pole of the season and 50th of Gordon’s career.
Ricky Rudd qualified third and Dale Jarrett fourth.
Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth, Joe Nemechek sixth and Scott Riggs seventh. Ward Burton, Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle completed the top 10.
Winn-Dixie 250 qualifying
Mike Bliss grabbed the second Busch Series pole of his career, at Daytona International Speedway.
Bliss, whose only previous Busch pole came March 6 in Las Vegas, turned a lap of 181.969 mph. That bested Robert Pressley (181.862) and NASCAR Nextel Cup regulars Kevin Harvick (181.331) and Robby Gordon (181.138).
Cleveland Grand Prix qualifying
Paul Tracy wouldn’t dare complain about this official ruling.
Tracy, fined $15,000 last week for criticizing Champ Car officials, was awarded the provisional pole at the Cleveland Grand Prix when racing stewards determined Sebastien Bourdais blocked competitors during qualifying.
Nearly four hours after the qualifying session ended, officials completed their review and announced that Bourdais, the defending champion, as well as Patrick Carpentier were penalized for impeding other drivers.
Officials did not say which drivers had been blocked.