NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will stop the practice of 'secret fines' and publicly announce all monetary punishments.
"NASCAR will no longer issue fines that are undisclosed," a NASCAR statement said. "We looked at this issue from every angle and gathered feedback from the industry. While there are always sensitivities related to sponsor relationships and other leagues may continue issuing disclosed and undisclosed fines, NASCAR has decided that all fines moving forward will be made public after the competitor or organization that has been penalized has been informed."
During the past two years NASCAR has issued fines in secrecy for their comments. Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were among the first known drivers to be fined for comments, Newman’s comments were made about the racing at Talladega Superspeedway, and Hamlin’s were for the comments he made on the social network Twitter, both in 2010. Newman was fined during the 2011 year after an incident with Juan Pablo Montoya that started with the Richmond race and was carried over to Darlington, when on Friday afternoon at the sanctioning body’s’ at the track office, led to an alleged physical altercation. Brad Keselowski was also fined $25,000 in November for comments during a fan forum that were critical of the new electronic fuel injection for the 2012 season.
With that in mind NASCAR CEO Brian France said Thursday that the sanctioning body will fine its members for belittling the sport following abolishing its policy of secret punishments.
"If you challenge the integrity of the sport, we're going to deal with that," France said. "What's really interesting is I can't tell you how many owners or drivers come up to me and say, 'Thanks for doing that because some of these comments were irresponsible and unhelpful to growing the sport.'
"Now, having said that, you can be critical of things you don't think we're doing well, in particular a race call. You can say, 'I don't think I was speeding; I disagree with that.' We understand that. It's when you go after the integrity of the sport is where we will step in, and they will be public."
Fines that pertained to rules violations were publicly announced, so the division of the public and then the private fines left fans with a feeling of distrust. Is NASCAR on the right track with its decision on the secrecy of fines?
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