Monday, June 6, 2011

NASCAR fines Childress $150,000

"Have at it" can be costly. In this case, $150,000 coming out of the pocket of Richard Childress. NASCAR fining him that sum on Monday, and placing him on probation until the end of the calendar year.

It's a steep fine, and it's a fair fine. Frankly, though, I'm not sure it was enough. This all happened after the Camping World Truck Series race in Kansas, as Childress got into a fight (which NASCAR deemed Childress started) in the garage area. From all that I can piece together on this, it seems Childress was unhappy that Kyle hit an RCR truck after the race was over.

As a car/truck owner, that means more dollars out the window to repair the damage. I could see why the owner would be upset about that, especially when the offending party is also a truck owner.

Still, it doesn't excuse Childress for going after him in the garage area. A shouting match? That's one thing. Fisticuffs is another. If, and since I wasn't there it's an if, this all went down that way, Childress should consider himself fortunate he wasn't suspended for a certain amount of races, or worse, the rest of the season. I have less of a problem if two drivers are duking it out, than an owner taking on a driver. Two drivers are on the track, emotions run high, things like that can happen. A guy that has seen so many things in NASCAR like Childress is entitled to be ticked off, but should know better than to start throwing hands.

As it stands now, the message sent is fighting carries a fine in NASCAR, no matter who you are. And that's it. Maybe this is what NASCAR wants, but given the fact that this incident took place on Saturday, and we're blogging, and talking about it on Monday, NASCAR might be happy getting a free commercial about their series.

That $150,000 dollars isn't bad, either.

Mike Solarte

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