It was a tough needle to thread but NASCAR somehow managed to both crack down with historic penalties against Michael Waltrip Racing yet let the team off easy at the same time.
On Monday, the sanctioning body for the top level of North American stock car racing handed Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) unprecedented sanctions for what it saw as manipulation of Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 in Richmond, Va. Yet Clint Bowyer, who was at the centre of the controversy, skated through virtually unscathed.
With the race for the final spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup as tight as ever during Saturday night's final regular season race, two MWR drivers engaged in curious behaviour in the closing laps, which had the combined effect of allowing teammate Martin Truex Jr. to nab the final playoff spot.
With one of Truex's main playoff challengers Ryan Newman leading the event, Bowyer suddenly spun out bringing out a late-race caution. Newman ended up losing his lead in the pits, which helped Truex's chances considerably.
Then just as the green flag flew to re-start the race, Brian Vickers, the third MWR driver, made a curious and seemingly unnecessary extra pit stop, which had the effect of moving Truex up one position and gave him the point he needed to tie Newman in the standings. Truex held the tiebreaker, thanks to more second-place finishes.
NASCAR reacted on Monday by handing out 50-point penalties to all three MWR drivers on top of a $300,000 fine to the team. The point penalty dropped Truex out of the Chase and promoted Newman to the final playoff spot, but Bowyer managed to stay in the post-season picture.
Since NASCAR decided the penalties would apply only to the regular season and since Bowyer has yet to win a race this year, Bowyer will start the Chase in the exact same spot he would have if Saturday's shenanigans hadn't occurred.
NASCAR justified the move by saying it couldn't prove Bowyer spun on purpose but the circumstantial evidence on the record suggests otherwise.
First there's the radio messages from Bowyer's team that tell him his arm must feel itchy in the car and that he should "itch it." The spin happened right after that message was received. Then there's the account of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was right behind Bowyer when the spin happened and called it "craziest thing I ever saw."
The evidence against Vickers' pit stop was more solid, with a radio message from MWR general manager Ty Norris explicitly telling Vickers to pit because they needed to help out Truex.
The decision to pit Vickers' car was such a blatant violation of fair play that NASCAR had to act swiftly, but if the powers that be determined that was the only violation, then Bowyer should have been spared punishment. Conversely, if officials believed Bowyer's initial spin was part of MWR's master plan, then the penalty's should have been structured to either take him out of the Chase entirely or have him start the playoffs with an extra deficit to make up.
Instead NASCAR decided to go halfway with its punishment and left open the door for MWR to win a title months after being found to have gamed the system.
