The Ugly
Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip got together after the yellow flag flew with Robby Gordon getting the worst of it and crashing. Michael was able to continue on.
When the cars came back around Robby attempted to back up into Michael and hit him with his car. Waltrip was able to slip past without contact. Then Robby got out of his car, walked out in front of other cars and threw his helmet at Waltrip's car.
NASCAR fined Robby Gordon $25,000, 25 driver points and 25 car owner points for this childish temper tantrum.
Robby wasn't done yet.
When faced with a live national television audience Robby Gordon called Michael Waltrip "a piece of %&@#." For that comment Robby was fined an additional $10,000 and an additional 25 driver points and 25 car owner points.
$35,000 and 50 points is a significant penalty by NASCAR standards. Yet I'm not sure that it was enough.
NASCAR needs to clearly impress upon him that this behavior will not be tolerated and I don't think that this will do it. Robby is already 37th in points and this penalty didn't change his position. Plus, is a $35,000 penalty significant for a team that has earned over $1.8 million so far in 2005? Even for a smaller team this penalty likely didn't hurt all that much.
The last penalty handed down today for behavioral problems was to Michael Waltrip. For giving Robby Gordon a rude hand gesture on national television Michael Waltrip was fined $10,000, 25 driver points and 25 car owner points.
Considering what was happening I'm not sure that this penalty was warranted. However don't forget that Michael was involved in an anger incident earlier this year with Jeff Green in Darlington. NASCAR may well have taken Michael's history into account when they decided to penalize him this time.
Wrapping it up
After they didn't penalize Dale Jarrett in Bristol NASCAR had opened the door for a week like this and it came quickly. However, now that NASCAR has issued penalties (and I'm sure stern warnings behind closed doors) I think they have made their point. I'll bet that drivers will be on their best behavior in Dover this weekend as NASCAR is back in control.
