Penalties and Fines to Follow

It looks like the NASCAR end-of-season points fund is going to gain some big bucks after yesterday's race in New Hampshire. The Sylvania 300 was the first race in the 10 race Chase to the Championship, and tempers were hotter than Daytona asphalt in July. There were three incidents which got folks riled up - two of which are sure to result in fines, possible point deductions, and maybe even a very rare suspension.

Kurt Busch, the reigning series champ and one of the 10 Chase contenders, lasted all of 3 laps before he was turned around and ended up with a crushed left front. After driving the smoking heap back to the pits, Kurt jumped out and walked briskly over to the pit box of the guy who wrecked him and climbed up on the pit cart and had a little heart-to-heart talk with his crew chief. To Kurt's credit, he didn't do anything which is likely to get him in trouble, and I'm sure after looking at the replays, he realized the other guy didn't wreck him on purpose. These two guys had had a previous run-in at Indianapolis, so Kurt was thinking that this might have been a payback.

Kurt was seen right before the race talking to Sen. John F. Kerry, which probably explains his bad luck. To Kurt's credit, his team was able to repair the car enough to finish the race, and although he still ended up 35th, he gained 24 valuable points that he might otherwise have lost. Last year's championship was decided by only 8 points.

Later in the race Kurt's brother Kyle got into the back of Kasey Kahne, causing Kasey to wad up his car. Kasey decided not to wait for payback and limped the car along the track until Busch came back around, at which point Kasey turned his car directly into Busch's car, damaging the left front. Kasey then admitted on TV that he'd intentionally paid him back for wrecking him, and my guess is that little act will probably cost him at least $10,000 and 25 points. Maybe more. It's bad enough when you pay somebody back by wrecking their car; even worse when you admit it on TV.

The final incident involved Michael Waltrip and Robbie Gordon. They were racing hard with Gordon trying to pass Waltrip on the inside. According to Waltrip, after being pushed further and further up the track, Mikey finally decided to hold his ground and the next time Gordon washed up the track, Mikey's left front hooked Gordon's right rear which turned Gordon hard into the backstretch wall, basically wiping out both the front and rear of the car. First Gordon tried to hit Waltrip's car when it came back around again, and then when the car was too damaged to move, Gordon got out of the car with helmet in hand and waited from Waltrip to come around again. He hurled his helmet at Waltrip's car, which didn't do anything but make Gordon look silly. That will probably cost him.

But just in case NASCAR wasn't mad enough at him, Gordon then went on live national television and called Waltrip "a piece of s###". Yes, he dropped the S-bomb on live TV. That's guaranteed to cost him a minimum of 25 points and $10,000, and I wouldn't be surprised if Gordon doesn't end up with a 1 race suspension out of it.

The penalties will be announced on Tuesday. We'll see what happens.

UPDATE: The penalties were announced Monday.