NASCAR parks Waltrip for aggressive driving after incident with Mears
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Sunday, May 04, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. – NASCAR parked Michael Waltrip for aggressive driving following an accident with Casey Mears in the Crown Royal 400 on Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.
On lap 355, Mears cut in front of Waltrip, pinching Waltrip into the wall. Waltrip’s car then pushed Mears for several hundred feet following the initial contact. On his in-car radio, Mears told his spotter that he didn’t realize Waltrip was there
NASCAR parked Waltrip, who had completed 352 laps of a race that went 410 laps, for the retaliation against Mears.
“I got run into the wall and then for a split second I lost my cool and hit him back,” Waltrip said. “You can’t do that, so I got parked.”
Waltrip was a lapped-down car at the time but likely would have accumulated between 87 and 112 points depending on his finish if he stayed within two or three laps of the leaders. He finished with 52 points.
Losing those points will be a sufficient penalty in NASCAR’s eyes.
“We parked him for his aggressive driving after the incident and we’re done with that,” NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Saturday night.
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6 responses to "NASCAR parks Waltrip for aggressive driving after incident with Mears". Post a Comment.
Anonymous said:
May 4, 2008 at 3:35 PMIs Michael always the scapegoat, for NASCAR? Kyle Busch is constantly doing something wrong and hasn't been parked During the race. At least let the man finish the race. If it had been Jr, or Gordon who lost their cool,not much would have been done. Oh yeah "it is just racing"
Anonymous said:
May 4, 2008 at 5:13 PMRobie!!
Do you think #5 didn't put #55 into the wall???
He just passed him and knew where he was!!
Charlie --Redlands, Calif.
Louise Diamond said:
May 4, 2008 at 6:02 PMIt's called racing, folks. It's a short track, people get mad. As for Kyle Busch, he's an awesome driver, but that's where it ends.
Lou~ New England
Chad Manley said:
May 5, 2008 at 4:35 AMMichael pulled a big no no, he hit a Hendrick car. So Na$car had to park the #55.
Anonymous said:
May 5, 2008 at 7:55 AMI was at the race. Make Michael miss a couple of races.
Ora Allison said:
Jun 17, 2008 at 6:04 PMget off Micheal's back for everything. He's only racing.