Join the Discussion "What happened to the penalty box idea? Certainly Harvick would've been hitting cars from behind at Martinsville today, but they could've brought him in for some stop-n-go penalties and if neccessary, parked him in the Cup event too." 3003David

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Dateline: December 30, 2002

2002 is the year that NASCAR finally got serious about enforcing the rules. In the past a driver or crew chief would get a ten or twenty thousand dollar fine for rule violations. In a sport where ten million dollars won't get you in the door and Jeff Gordon makes $1.8 million a month how much of a deterrent is a $10,000 fine?

Getting Their Attention

So this season NASCAR took the next step and really got the drivers' and teams' attention by hitting them where it really counts, the points. This year NASCAR deducted twenty-five critical championship points from six different drivers.

Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Green, Rusty Wallace, Ward Burton and Mark Martin were all hit with points penalties from NASCAR for infractions that, in the past, were usually met with fines. Martin, Burton and Green all had "unapproved" springs while the other three had a variety of mechanical violations.

These penalties really do hurt the drivers in an important way. Jimmie Johnson, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett would all have finished higher in the final NASCAR Winston Cup points standings if not for their twenty-five point deficits. With all three of these guys ending up in the top ten in points, we are talking about some significant money. Now that is a lesson that those teams will remember.

Take A Break

Even beyond the points penalties NASCAR actually suspended Kevin Harvick for one race during the 2002 season. In April Harvick was not allowed to race in the Winston Cup race in Martinsville because of on-track incidents that occurred during previous Busch and Truck series races.

NASCAR had warned drivers for two years now that they were not happy with the post-race and on-track displays of temper. They had always enforced these rules with fines before, but the incidents still kept occuring. Harvick apparently learned the lesson well because since the Martinsville penalty he has really kept himself clean.

NASCAR Again In Control

NASCAR has finally decided to crack down on teams that break the rules. Even though my favorite driver was one of those penalized this year I couldn't be happier. In order for NASCAR to thrive truly fair and honest competition must thrive. NASCAR has become such a big-money sport that teams will do anything to get ahead. In fact, the risk of paying a small fine was well worth it for a team to impress a sponsor, get more souvenir-buying fans, or move up in the points.

As a result, NASCAR wasn't able to communicate the seriousness of the rule violations with just financial penalties so they had to take the next step. Taking away driver and car owner points really hits the teams hard. The fans, sponsors and a great deal of money depend on the points standings. I'll bet that all teams will think twice before pushing the boundaries of the rulebook in 2003.

Congratulations, kudos and thanks to NASCAR for doing what they have to do in order to guarantee the integrity of the sport.