NASCAR placed Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears on probation for six weeks - effective immediately - for post-race contact Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway, ruling the two were guilty of "actions detrimental to stock car racing - hitting another competitor's car after the race had concluded.''Mears' and Earnhardt's Chevrolets collided with 11 laps remaining in Saturday night's race in Phoenix sending Earnhardt from what looked like a strong finish to a 31st place effort instead. Earnhardt retaliated against Mears on the cool down lap after the race. And Mears responded by running into the rear of Earnhardt's car on pit road.
Initially NASCAR did not issue any penalties, but NASCAR Spokesman Ramsey Poston told the Associated Press late Tuesday officials changed their minds.
"We had a weekly competition meeting, we had a good discussion about it and we decided to put the drivers on probation so the situation did not escalate,'' Poston said.
The two drivers were teammates at Hendrick Motorsports last season. Mears now races for Richard Childress Racing, but both have struggled in the early going. The finish dropped Earnhardt three positions in the championship standings and he's now 19th - more than 100 points out of the 12th place, final Chase qualifying position. Mears finished 20th at Phoenix and actually moved up one spot to 22nd in the standings as the series moves to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this weekend.
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
A sure top ten finish? Jr had last stopped for fuel and tires on lap 226. His car was going away and he was losing spots fast and about to run out of gas or have to pit under green. Either way, he was going to go another lap down and end up in 34th or 35th place as a result. Mears did him a favor by wrecking him. Only a JR fan could say he was about to have a sure top ten finish.
The 88 took a gamble by not pitting earlier in the race when they were in 23rd place. All 22 cars in front of them did pit and as a result the 88 ended up in the lead but with 20 laps on the car. It was a great gamble had the race not gone on such a long green run. Unfortunately it sealed the fate of the 88 team instead of helping them have that top ten finish. They were out of the cycle and were about to run out of fuel on about lap 306 or 80 laps of green which is the limit roughly. Problem is, it was a 312 lap race. Casey Mears saved his butt by wrecking him on lap 300.
You did watch the race didn't you?
Question i have is why is Casey Mears still driving a race car? How many more teams is he going to have to drag down before people open their damn eyes that this guy is a joke! Hell, just look at the 5 car, they didnt change a damn thing from when Kyle Busch took it, to when Mears took it, to when Mark got it, and now it's back in victory lane thanks to a driver with talent behind the wheel! RCR needs to wise up, and get rid of Mears!
cool down CJ. It ain't for nothing that he was renamed CASEY SMEARS. It's his job to smear cars and teams,lol.does not work for me...
If any driver other than Jr had spun out another driver, you can bet the penalty would have been stiffer. Fact is...Nascar had to get permission from Jr to write him up for the incident. You have to applaud Mears for striking back once Jr started it, he didn't back down. You can bet Jr wet his pants and saw Mears pulling up on his rear bumper, for no one messes with Nascar's darling out of fear of the consquences. Gordon wins...Johnson wins....Martin wins....and Jr ...well he shows up. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is the weak link in the Hendricks stable. I wonder what excuse Jr's fans will use next year. Works for me
you mean if it was jimmy johnson they would of given him a metal getting into a scuffel nascar has to go thru chad to get permission to even talk to jimmy he even gets away with cheating nascar doesnt check jimmys cars like they check everyone eles cars and as far as jr goes if sr was still here mears wouldnt be racing and jimmy would be were he is today and the ruls would be differnt
Mears, Junior, and Michael Waltrip should race each other on the kiddie track. Call it the "Break in the chain" Series..
No loss of points. Had it been another driver other than Jr. I think they would have both lost 100 points but we cant have Jr. penalized. He might not make the chase, which it looks like he wont anyway. Any else think NASCAR treats him different than other drivers, except J. Gordon and Jimmy Johnson.
Unfortunately, I had fallen asleep at this point in the race so missed the excitement live. I did see a replay of it. I thought it was funny! They both hit each other and decided to use their race cars as their weapon of choice. It's exciting once in a while to watch guys get pissed and hit each other.
That being said....I must agree that penalties for others who have done the very same thing, Kurt Busch for example last year, were penalized a lot more than just a suspension. They were out money, driver points and owner points. It does appear that NASCAR is showing some favortism here and they better watch out for the next driver that does the same thing that they punish more harshly, will surely have a case for discrimination.
And CJ: I agree with you about Mears, however couldn't you say the same for Jr.? They are sitting almost next to each other in points and both only have one win in the past two years.
Kim
Interesting. Mears wrecks Jr and Jr hits Mears on cool down lap. I loved Jr smacking Mears, bet he will think again. Six weeks more of NASCAR's and their S H I T of the entire last few years and picking who is to win or not is too much.
Toyota, paying for a Championship last year and not getting it. LOL, was the biggest last laugh on them.
But as the old saying goes. Money talks and racing is DEAD.
Jr is not a very good driver he only gets the stuff he does because of his name and not his talent because as you can see there is very little there and nascar does let him get away with things other drivers would not be able to and I agree if it were a different driver they would have lost 100 points or more
It is nice to finally see JR get a bit agressive. For the last 2 years he has driven like a 14 year old girl. At one time it was thought that he would be more like his Dad who was always after a win no matter what. If JR doesn't make the cut this year, he should be considered just another has been.
True, Mears is a non driving somebody, but when he washed up into Jr that was a racing incident, it happens. What Jr did in retaliation is 100% deserving of penalty, I'd say 100 points. There are two words that explain why gutless weasel Brian France did nothing: Hendrick, and Earnhardt. Nascar needs an independent board to rule on these things.
For sure For sure Mike, Anyone watching the race new Jr. was going to be lucky to finish in the top 25. But mears saved his butt by wrecking him? Man, even if you finish 43rd no one is saving someones butt if they wreck you at those speeds. As far as the cool down lap and penalties, the penalties are a joke at best ( 6 races ! ! ), more of a slap on the wrist for playing patty-cake. This is just Sat. night racing, tempers flaring and we need to see more of it. And Don I just love mears 'STRIKING BACK' wow I wonder how much paint he scratched on Jr.'s bumper. LMAO Applaud Applaud.
During the chase last year Busch and Edwards had a far worse incident at Bristol after the race and what were the penalties? Another slap on the wrist, so there are your different drivers and the penalties were basically the same ( NOTHING ).
I meant he saved him from going down any further. He saved him from having to pit under green or running out of gas. Obviously finishing in 31st is nothing be called a "save".
Keep in mind, I did say I liked the no pit move earlier. On the previous pit they actually hit the setup and Jr was doing very well. But that long green run did the team in.
Nascar did exactly what I thought they were going to do, pretty much nothing. 6 month probation for two drivers that usually do not do this kind of stuff. How hard is it to behave when that is your nature?
IFFFFFFFF Nascar were to want to stop it they need to have a meeting and tell the drivers "here is the official policy and penalty" and go from there. It is just one more of those issues where Nascar gives itself a bad image by NOT having an open rules book with a well spelled out list of penalties for all to see.
mbl
I think they need to let them race. The penalties were the same as for Kyle and Carl. Didn't Jr hit Mears on the track and Mears hit Jr on pit row? Much more dangerous on pit row.
CJ - I just read that now Mears and Harvick are discussing swapping teams? Mears just can't it IMO.
JUNIOR HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO BRING ANY EXCITEMENT TO THE JUNIOR NATION, by achieveing success in wins and top 5's, so he is doing it in by BUMPING AND RUNNING which brings even more excitement.Maybe he has begun to imitate the INTIMIDATOR, but where are the wins and the championships?
oops,here we go MIKE. ciao.
obamaizadope that was the funniest statement I have read on this forum in awhile. Thanks for making me laugh, need more laughs from time to time.
Bessie, you must not know the Japanese very well. You see it is not always about winning Nascar races (The drivers want to win) The Japanese always look at the bigger picture...like how to be the number ONE selling car company in the WORLD! Makes you feel kind of silly doesn't it? They are not buying anything nor do they have too. Toyota sponsors EVERYTHING from Basketball to Hockey. If you hate them so much then do not use your cell phone, playstation, Ipod and numerous other things. Have a great day as I am happy that my man won last Saturday!!!!!
GREG
Gotcha Mike and I agree. Yeah Jr. was Ok there for awhile and the car was good. But that last or second to last all he changed was 4 tires and a load of gas and the car was crap. This isn't the first time tires have been a problem this year and I don't mean for Jr. It seems there have been several tires issues of late for different drivers that just amount to handling issues but I thinks Jr's issues are much deeper than that. Maybe a top 10 this week at Dega will get them going.
You brought up something I had actually forgotten, Brad. That last stop before the wreck was a tires and gas only stop for the 88. And yet the car went to crap, quickly. I think he was running in 20th when the accident occured and going backwards. (I still don't know how or why Holly would think that was a top ten finish in the making. Like I said, did she even watch the race.) Any ways, did the track cool, were the pressures off on the tires? It was a strange change of how they were performing with only a gas and tires stop.
Anna, I would say it was probably more out of frustration than trying to copy Pops. As stated, he was doing well and all of the sudden was losing places on the track faster than anyone else. Yes, invariably some fans are going to have to comment one way or the other about Dale Sr. You know all too well that for all my fun poking at the Nation I will not go into that arena. I am not a fan of either driver but how can you ridicule or complain about a man that tries to follow in his fathers footsteps when those footsteps are almost impossible to follow? I am all too willing to say "Jr is not all that" but I will not compare Jr to his father other than to say he is not his father. It's just not fair to either of them.
mbl
was this a racin incident or a lovers quarrel between casey and jr?