R. Gordon plans to appeal NASCAR penalty for intentionally causing caution

Thursday, November 02, 2006
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DAVID GRIFFIN / NASCAR SCENE

NASCAR officials have penalized Nextel Cup driver Robby Gordon 50 driver points and fined him $15,000 for rule infractions during Sunday's Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Gordon, who is the owner as well as the driver of the Robby Gordon Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet, also loses 50 car owner points. He has been placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Gordon's penalty is for intentionally causing a caution condition during the race. Gordon is believed to be the driver who tossed his roll-bar padding onto the track to create a caution on lap 292 of the 334-lap event.

In a television interview after the race, Gordon denied throwing the padding out of his car. The team released a statement Wednesday night that did not address whether Gordon was innocent but indicated it would appeal the penalty.

""We strongly believe the penalty imposed on the team, crew chief and driver, Robby Gordon, are excessive and fall well outside of any reasonable precedence set by NASCAR in dealing with many similar incidents in the past," Gordon's team said in a statement. "We do intend to appeal the severity of this penalty."

In addition, Gordon's crew chief Greg Erwin has been fined $10,000 for violating the rule that states a crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his driver and team members. Erwin was also placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Gordon is not the first driver to penalized for causing a caution this season, though he is the first to receive a monetary and points fine after a race this season.

At New Hampshire, Aaron Fike was penalized for intentionally causing a caution when his glove appeared on the track, an infraction he claimed was accidental, stating that the glove fell off when he had his hand out the window trying to get air into his car. A glove mysteriously appeared on the track during the race at California Speedway earlier this season, but NASCAR never determined its owner.

At the Texas Busch Series race in April, Reed Sorenson was sent to the end of the longest line - a loss of five positions - after NASCAR officials saw video evidence of a piece of roll-bar padding come out the driver's side window, which was followed by Sorenson's team requesting a caution for debris. He was not penalized further.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ruled to have spun intentionally to cause a caution period in the Nextel Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2004, he received a 25-point driver penalty and $10,000 fine and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team also received a 25-point penalty in the owner standings.

Mentioned Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

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