Childress Penalty Announced

Well Nascar announced Richard Childress' penalty yesterday. They will fine the team owner $150,000 and place him on probation until season's end. This was a very tough decision to make, I'm sure, because his actions can't be take too lightly.

Don't get me wrong, I stand behind Childress and I love the fact that he stood up for his team. But other's disagree. Most people accused Nascar of playing favorites, letting RC off easy, while another, lower profile owner would have been suspended from the sport. That may be true, but let's remember who we're talking about here. Like I said in my previous post regarding this matter, Richard Childress is about as redneck as you can get in the Nascar garage. He's extremely old school and doesn't take any crap from anybody. So he is going to settle a score like they did back in the good old days of stock car racing: Settle the score in the garage and let Nascar worry about it later. That's all that happened.

He is also the only owner like that in the Sprint Cup series. Could anyone really see businessmen like Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush fighting in the garage area? All Joe Gibbs would do is give a sermon about how violence is wrong and hide behind his Bible. Richard Childress is a good ol' boy and isn't afraid to get down and dirty when it comes to doing what he feels is right.

Now, about the penalty. Many members of the Nascar media have said RC should have been fined and suspended, it was a tough call for Nascar to make. "Boys, have at it" is all well an good between drivers, but when team owners get involved, that's a totally different story.

Like I said, Childress is the only owner who would be likely to do something like this and he probably won't do it again. Yes, a fine is great, but I still feel something more than just "probation" should go along with it. $150,000 to an owner of Childress' magnitude is mere pocket change. With the money he makes off winnings from four Cup series teams and two Truck series teams (not to mention the money he makes from teams that lease chassis and engines from him), I think he'll be just fine financially after he cuts that big check. And all Nascar fans know what a joke "probation" is so that won't amount to much as far as teaching him a lesson. Suspending him for a race or two would definitely have sent the message home that this type of behavior won't be tolerated among Nascar owners.

You can't please everyone. Some say Nascar hit the nail on the head, and some say they didn't penalize RC near enough. I stand behind what Childress did because he was just standing up for his team and what he felt was right. But I also understand that we can't have team owners going around knocking out drivers in the garage after races either. A one or two race suspension and a fine would have driven that point home a bit more clearly. But, this was a one time thing with the only owner who would do something of this nature. Good call or bad, it's time to move on to racing at Pocono and to leave "boys, have at it" to the drivers.