End Of A NASCAR Era

[Don]

Source: Scene Daily

" Why didn't NASCAR penalize Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

There are 70 laps remaining in the Daytona 500 and we have our first major controversy of the season, and there are two main culprits:

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, and NASCAR itself.

Fans have to be asking themselves what is wrong with Earnhardt Jr. First, he makes two critical mistakes on pit road, taking himself out of contention by missing his pit stall and then pitting outside his pit box.

Then he caused a major pile-up that took out several contenders to win the Daytona 500.

Already a lap down, Earnhardt Jr. dove below the yellow line to try and pass Brian Vickers. When Vickers blocked him, Earnhardt Jr. hooked the rear of his car, sending cars crashing all around them.

It was a stupid move by a driver obviously dealing with some pent-up frustration.

The only thing more outrageous than Earnhardt Jr.’s move was NASCAR’s decision not to penalize him.

A day earlier, NASCAR penalized Jason Leffler five laps for causing a crash in the Nationwide Series race. Leffler’s mistake occurred in the middle of the track, during a three-wide battle and wasn’t nearly as blatant. He took out only three cars.

Earnhardt Jr. attempted to pass below the yellow line – a clear violation – and then made an ill-advised move while trying to recover, causing a major pile-up that marred the biggest race of the season.

Yet NASCAR, for whatever reason, did not penalize him.

This is bound to stir up the conspiracy theorists that already believe that NASCAR favors its biggest star.

It’s a fair question: Would it have penalized another driver for making the same move?

Earnhardt Jr. made an ill-advised move. So did NASCAR "