NASCAR puts Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears on probation
Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. (left) and Richard Childress Racing's Casey Mears were placed on probation for six races for their incident after last weekend's Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. // SceneDaily Illustration, Chuck Yadmark
NASCAR officials have placed Hendrick Motorsports’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Richard Childress Racing’s Casey Mears on probation for the next six Sprint Cup races as a result of their on-track incident last Saturday following the conclusion of the race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88, and Mears, driver of the No. 07, both violated Section 12-4-A – actions detrimental to stock-car racing – of the 2009 NASCAR rule book. Hitting another competitor’s car after the race had concluded is considered to fall under that rule.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston – who said Saturday that no penalties were expected to come from the incident – said Tuesday afternoon the issue was revisited during NASCAR’s internal weekly Tuesday competition meeting, where it normally reviews the previous weekend’s races.
“We had a good discussion at our weekly competition meeting today and at the end of it, we decided to err on the side of caution and to put the drivers on probation so the situation would not escalate,” Poston said. “This goes back to why we typically don’t make [final] decisions on penalties at the track. We give us a few days to kick it around the table and that’s what happened.”
On the cool-down lap after the race, Earnhardt Jr. spun Mears in retaliation for an accident that happened late in the event. Mears then bumped Earnhardt Jr. on pit road.
The probation takes effect beginning with this weekend’s event at Talladega Superspeedway.
“When we penalize, it’s to make sure that things don’t escalate,” Poston said. “Bumping and banging is part of the sport. What we want to be careful of is it doesn’t get out of control and put somebody in danger.”
Poston denied that NASCAR reacted after publicity Monday that questioned whether failing to penalize Mears and Earnhardt Jr. was consistent with past penalties. Last year, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch were also placed on six-week probation after a similar incident.
“The decision we made was based on a good conversation on what we thought was best,” Poston said.
