NASCAR announced Thursday that they have fined Denny Hamlin $25,000 for comments he made following the March 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
According to NASCAR Hamlin violated Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2013 NASCAR Rule Book.
“Following the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, Denny Hamlin made some disparaging remarks about the on-track racing that had taken place that afternoon. While NASCAR gives its competitors ample leeway in voicing their opinions when it comes to a wide range of aspects about the sport, the sanctioning body will not tolerate publicly made comments by its drivers that denigrate the racing product.”
NASCAR didn’t specify the exact comments that raised their ire. But among the ‘disparaging’ remarks Hamlin was quoted as saying after his third place finish:
When asked about how much he had learned about the new car: “We learned a lot. I don't want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our generation five cars. This is more like what the generation five was at the beginning. The teams hadn't figured out how to get the aero balance right. Right now, you just run single-file and you cannot get around the guy in front of you. You would have placed me in 20th-place with 30 (laps) to go, I would have stayed there -- I wouldn't have moved up. It's just one of those things where track position is everything."
Later when asked how had passed so many cars after starting at the rear of the field. (Hamlin was forced to start in the back after his crew changed an engine on Saturday)
"I hate to be 'Denny-downer,' but I just didn't pass that many cars today. That's the realistic fact of it. We started 40 something, we finished third and you think that we just motored our way through the pack. And that's just not the case of what happened. I'm ecstatic about our finish, don't get me wrong, because we did not have a third-place car today. But, my pit crew just kept putting me in a position to race those guys, and then I capitalized when one or two guys in front of me made some mistakes here and there, I'd get one more spot, two more spots, next thing you know I've got a shot to possibly get a win at the end. That's what you've got to do when you don't have the best car. It was a teamwork third-place run today, that's for sure."
Hamlin later said that he would not pay the fines. NASCAR Vice President for competition Robin Pemberton said Hamlin has that right. He then added that the type of comments Hamlin put forth won’t be tolerated from drivers.
“You can't criticize your core product, what you're trying to do,” Pemberton said.” Constructive criticism is one thing, but there's different statements that people made that are damaging. That's where we won't tolerate those types of things. “
Whether Hamlin will appeal remains open to conjecture, but he would be ill advised against remaining defiant to NASCAR. It’s now obvious that NASCAR’s shiny new headquarters in Daytona Beach Florida has become the Southern Politburo. As such there have been a few changes issued by ‘Mother NASCAR’ or as it is now known; the Union of Stock-car Socialist Republics, the USSR.
All drivers and teams now belong to the State. They will now wear the same uniforms; they must all look exactly alike.
There will be no more NASCAR media tours; instead every May Day cars and haulers will parade down International Speedway Boulevard while Premier Chairman Brian ‘Vladimir’ France salutes them from atop the Politburo. NASCAR officials will goosestep behind the formation.
NASCAR officials who are now seen at inspection stations and along pit road are now members of the NASCAR KGB and will wear plainclothes.
Any member of NASCAR showing any sort of defiance towards the Motherland will be sent to ‘reeducation’ camps set up around Florida, mainly in the swamps surrounding the Everglades near Miami; Gulag 1 is expected to be up and running by Martinsville.
All statements from any member of NASCAR will now come through the newly established Propaganda Department in Charlotte which was once known as the NASCAR R&D Center.
The policies of glasnost and perestroika have been suspended, effective immediately. Also, free speech has been suspended for the good of the State, as comrade Hamlin has learned.
Of course comrade Hamlin could not comment on the latest development; in a statement issued by NASCAR’s new Propaganda Department: ‘Comrade Hamlin is enjoying an extended vacation in South Florida’.
The Cold War is on again comrades, long live the Motherland.
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