Dale Earnhardt Jr. Loses NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Points Lead

NASCAR handed down the penalty today for Dale Earnhardt Jr's post-race use of one of George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television". NASCAR has fined Dale Jr. $10,000 and taken away 25 points and 25 car owner points. This takes Jr. from leading the points by 13 over Kurt Busch to second place 12 points behind Busch in the Chase For The NEXTEL Cup standings. Wow!

This is an incredible turn of events in the Chase. With the new ten race chase for the Cup format every point in these last ten races is critical.

In February NASCAR warned drivers that language violations in broadcast media would be dealt with harshly. Shortly after that Busch series driver Johnny Sauter was fined $10,000 and docked 25 points for using one of George Carlin's "seven words." in Las Vegas.

So what is NASCAR to do? They can't lay down such a harsh penalty in to one guy and let another driver go completely.

NASCAR made their bed earlier this year by setting a dangerous precedent with Sauter. Now they have been forced to penalize their most popular driver for an incident I'm sure they would rather just sweep under the rug.