NASCAR throws the book at Earnhardt, DEI & Tony Eury, Jr
Quote selected text Published May 15th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Dale Earnhardt Inc. was notified Tuesday what the penalties are for infractions found on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car at Darlington.
They are heavy.
Earnhardt was docked 100 points while crew chief Tony Eury Jr. was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races beginning with the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27. Team owner Teresa Earnhardt also has been docked 100 owner points. Eury Jr. expected the penalty from NASCAR this week to be serious.
“I was definitely not trying to get away with nothing, so you can take it for what it is,” he said Saturday. “There’s nothing I can do about it. Whatever they hand down, it certainly wasn’t on purpose.”
NASCAR confiscated the rear wing mounts from Earnhardt’s car on Saturday before the Nextel Cup race at Darlington Raceway was postponed until Sunday due to rain. Eury called it an “interpretation.”
“It was a bad deal,” he said. “It was a part that got put on there that shouldn’t have. We’ve done a lot of offseason testing for NASCAR. There’s been three different styles of brackets on there and it just happened to be one of those old-style brackets.” Eury said the brackets were the same ones that weren’t discovered during pre- or post-qualifying inspections. “It fit all of their templates,” he said.
“It just had a problem when you put [the angle] to where you should have.” Eury said he tried to explain how to fix the problem to series director John Darby.
UPDATE: The team said it plans to appeal the severity of the penalty.
“We do not question the infraction, which is clearly spelled out in the NASCAR rule book. However, we have appealed the severity of the penalty.”
Bookmark to:
- Eury Sr. replaces Ward as JR Motorsports’ crew chief
- Tony Eury, Sr leaves DEI for JR Motorsports
- Eury Sr. staying on as JR Motorsports crew chief
- Eury, Jr steps down as Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s crew chief to start Hendrick job
- Eury, Sr and Earnhardt, Jr comment on Eury, Sr going to JR Motorsports
Wow. That’s pretty hefty.
ok can you say lets pick on jr now….. nascar you suck…. and jr is not even one of my favorite drivers.. i do like him though and support his new decision..
Lame. It obviously wasn’t blatant cheating, so cut the boy some slack. A lot worse things have been caught than that, and they went much less punished.
This penalty is freakin’ ridiculous!
It is what it is. I think I argued this point all day long. So, for the sake of yet another DEI/HMS slugfest, (Which it’s gonna be that anyway, but I won’t be the one to start it)
I’ll just say this:
The fine was steep, but Jr.will recover. He always does. Was it fair? IMO, no, it wasn’t. But, I guess NASCAR has to start being constistent somewhere. He won’t have Eury for a few races, but he’ll be just fine. We can have all the theories under the sun, but it is what it is.
Hang in there, Dale Jr.
thats harsh. but nascar is trying to prove its point of zero tolerance, and it happens that jr was right in their cross hairs.
Dale doesnt give a crap, he’s still making $30 million a year
unreal is all i can say!!
I want to say that the NASCAR cronies are full of crap. They
seem to be getting worse and worse. Drivers / Owners don’t
seem to have any recourse. It makes me not want to spend my
money on NASCAR when they do dumb stuff like this. THERE IS
ONLY ONE GOD AND HE DOESN’T HANG OUT IN THE NASCAR TRAILER!
Wow, show me another team that has gotten it that heafty. THIS IS BS!!! They just wanna show they arent favoring DEI, unlike Hendrick. Maybe if JR went to Hendrick he would get the same ass kissin Hendricks boys do.NASCAR, yeah, no favortism there.
this is so stupid. NASCAR needs to get their heads out of there butt. this is complete BS
thats ridiculous let’s just kick JR some more while his down nascar suxs!!!!
Ok, I’ve really been trying hard to rationalize some of the things NASCAR has been doing lately. I can’t find much rationale in a 6 race suspension and 100 point fine….. I may start buying into everyone’s conspiracies. Maybe NASCAR is just that stupid or that arrogant. I hope it was John Darby who did this. I’ve been wanting to s**t in his face for a long time. not spit. s**t. If there was anyone I could meet in NASCAR it wouldn’t be Junior, Tony or Gordon. It would be JOHN DARBY. What an asshole. I’d love to hear that guy defend decisions like these. I hope NASCAR’s ego bites them soon.
Brian France needs to stop flying over to China for tea and make NASCAR what it should be here and now, not 15 years in the future in some other country. AND, Mike Helton needs to stop being such a pussy.
Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson were caught blatantly cheating at Vegas a year or two ago with an aerodynamic advantage where one of them won the damn race. Their penalties were nowhere near this….. Hell, Mark Martin only got a 25 point penalty for an unapproved spring at Lowe’s that won him the damn race also a few years back.
ridiculous. NASCAR must want to be the way the FIA is with F1 and their stupidity.
NASCAR will not be getting any more money from me this season if at all. They suck ass and I’m sick of the BS. Screw you nascar!
This is way too harsh. I knew it wasn’t going to be 25 points because there was such a buzz about being the first team to incur a penalty, but I expected 50 points. 100 points is basically like sitting out a race. That’s hard to do and still make the chase for the cup. And with Eury Jr gone for 6 races that could equate to missing another full race if DEI doesn’t have somebody of his caliber to replace him. I think the fine should have been $75,000, points 50, and Eury sat for 4 races. The fact that he did not actually race with the brackets should have been taken into account. Well the precedent has been set I guess.
Thats way too much for a damn wing. I agree with Brian. I was going to say at most 50 points. 50,000. And 3 races. I can see if he RACED like that. But he didn’t!
hello…..we all know why Jr got punished so badly….he doesnt have the
Ass Kissin Hendrick Name to back him up. If he would have had the name Gordon or
Johnson, he would have even been mentioned to cheating! whats the deal Nascar???
I recall a past Daytona 500 winner who’s crew chief blatantly
messed with the aerodynamics of the rear window via the jacking bolt.
That crew chief was suspended for 4 races. No points were taken
away either.
This was obviously a mistake on the #8 crew..But somebody
correct me if I’m wrong there is no advantage in different wing
mounts, it’s just they didn’t use the ones NASCAR wanted them to
use. 100 points..that’s alot of points.
I sense an inconsistency here.
Its a funny time to choose a precedent, considering NASCAR has had over 50 years to do it and atleast 30 years of aerodynamic related issues. I really want to know what goes through NASCAR’s head sometimes.
NASCAR’s inconsistentcy is consistently taking away everything fun and exciting about racing. It is honestly making me lose interest and making other forms of racing look that much better.
Its also making watching Inside Nextel Cup on Mondays more desireable than wasting over 10 hours of my weekend watching live races, practice and pre-race when the end results are dictated so sharply by the company running it.
NASCAR is looking for attention with this fine. I guarantee it. I think dwindling ratings and a sour fan base would make them do desperate things to stay noticed and possibly attract new people to spend money on them.
very inconsistant.
i can not comment on this without getting severely edited, but someone earlier called someone
a pussy, so here goes.
this is f’ing bulls__t.
i can see a point in what axel was saying. theyre reaching out and doing whatever possible to get attention, and this heafty fine is it. although it doesnt sound like Eury Jr is putting up much of fight over it, he could always try to appeal it; however it didnt sound like he was going to.
He didn’t race with the altered part! Doesn’t that mitigate the severity of the crime??
HoppyGirl….just a little bit.
MAX SEIGAL OF DEI IS GOING TO MAKE AN APPEAL AGAINST THE SEVERETY OF THE PENALTY. SO IT’S POSSIBLE TONY JR WONT MISS THIS WEEKS ALL-STAR RACE. PLUS DEI WILL MOST LIKELY WIN BECAUSE EARNHARDNT NEVER WENT ON THE TRACK WITH THE ILLEGAL WING.
Its not about racing anymore, its the marketing value of Nascar, and the money
that they can bring in. The fan base though, is going down severly because of chickensit antics like this. Its becoming more of a joke than a Sport. Nascar wants to preach to
the drivers to be fair, when even high up its not even fair. Cmon Nascar get your heads out of your asses!
My question is this: Why did are they being this heavy on Jr.’s whole team and DEI when they weren’t this hard on the other teams that have had inspection problems? I think they need to learn a little bit of consistancy when handing out penalties to all the teams for similiar offences. This is getting out of hand and they need to be fair to all the drivers and owners and not make examples out of the big names like Jr.
okay, i hate to go into a fight un armed, or in this case, into a debate without the facts. so i did my research and this is what i found:
- DEI will appeal, according to team president Max Siegel. However, they are not appealing the ruling, they are appealing the penalty.
- Everybody keeps saying that the fine seems too high and that its not fair, well on March 21 a memo outlining penalties for specific infractions on the Car of Tomorrow and specifically listed fines of $100,000, points deductions and suspension
- It also follows a season-long crackdown on cheating that began at the Daytona 500, when NASCAR caught five teams breaking the rules. Six crew members were suspended and Michael Waltrip’s crew chief was fined $100,000
so clearly, they are NOT the first team to have this fine system taken down on them. as somebody said before, its because of his name being Earnhardt, well, yes in a way. Its because his name is Earnhardt that its standing out and causing such an uproar. was there this much fan outrage when it was Waltrip with the fines? or pit crew members were suspended? Its because of the name.
THIS IS A BUNCH OF BULL. TONY EURY JR HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING ILLEGAL IN HIS 7 YEARS OF CHEW CHIEF. DALE JR AND TONY EURY JR’S FINE WAS WORSE THAN MICHAEL WALDRIP’S AND HE GOT CAUGHT CHEATING. I PERSONALLY DON’T THINK THAT IT’S RIGHT FOR NASCAR AND BILL FRANCE TO CONTINUE USING JR TO SET EXAMPLES FOR THE OTHER DRIVERS. LOOK AT THE OTHER DRIVERS THAT HAVE DONE WORSE THINGS AND GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT. TONY EURY JR DOES SOMETHING ACCIDENTALLY AND HE GETS THE BOOK THROWN AT HIM. WOULD NASCAR HAVE GIVEN THE SAME FINE TO ANY OTHER DRIVER? I DON’T THINK SO. THEY WERE ONLY THIS HARD BECAUSE IT WAS DALE JR AND TONY EURY JR. DON’T GET ME WRONG, I KNOW NASCAR HAS IT RULES THAT THEY GO BY, BUT COME ON GUYS. EVERY TIME DALE JR SAYS OR DOES SOMETHING THAT IS AN ACCIDENT HE GETS OUTRAGES FINES AND PENALTIES. THAT IS JUST NOT FAIR TO DALE JR OR DEI.
yea roxies rite. nascar finally did somthin consistent to wat they said earlier this year. if it was hendrick things would have been a little bit different. nascar would have let them qualify wit the wing that way. nascar did say that they were gonna penalize anybody who messed wit the wing or any other certified piece that the fines were gonna start at 100,000 dollars and 100 points. and the crew chief would be suspended. no suprise there. wat i dont get is that everybody seems to have forgotten that till a hendrick car is in the news. i hate nascar cheatin as much as everyone else but the fact that they did somthin they said they would a long time ago is amazing, but then again this isnt a hendrick car in question. everybody needs to remember the cot rules when this comes up. if everybody read the whole article above then they would realize that tony jr said that they used old brackets from testing. old parts dont work on a new car.
A quote from February 16, 2007……….
“After failing post-race inspection yesterday, the #24 DuPont Chevy was moved to back of the field for the Daytona 500. NASCAR claims that it was “unintentional” and therefore the team will not be fined or docked points.”
Oh, and I realize NASCAR has conveniently changed the way they enforce “rules” since the COT is coming into effect, but the car isn’t even being raced full time.
The teams accept the fact that NASCAR makes a mistake and puts a foam in the car that doesn’t function the way they said it would under high heat. Eventhough DOW chemical’s website says that it wouldn’t do what NASCAR was claiming.
Teams accept the fact that NASCAR made a mistake calling a race determining caution for Robby Gordon’s roll bar padding last year. Maybe a championship deciding caution.
Teams accept that Goodyear under NASCAR’s direction can’t change the compounds of the tire to efficiently cope with the tracks and cars.
I’m close to being done with NASCAR. The interest is gone. I might start watching again next year when Junior is with his new team.
JR SHOULD GET PENALIZED JUST LIKE KENSETH AND KAHNE DID. HIS WAS WORSE THAN THEIRS, SO HE GETS IT WORSE.
BUT YEAH, NASCAR IS BEING A LITTLE HARSH ON THE PENALTIES LATELY. BUT IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR HIM TO GET PENALIZED LIKE THE OTHERS DID.
I am just gonna copy and repost one of Axel’s responses.
A quote from February 16, 2007……….
“After failing post-race inspection yesterday, the #24 DuPont Chevy was moved to back of the field for the Daytona 500. NASCAR claims that it was “unintentional” and therefore the team will not be fined or docked points.”
The only thing I can think of that would make the penalty fair is this scenario….
They have the correct brackets on the car during the first inspection. Then after they pass inspection, they replace the brackets with the illegal ones and they’re busted by NASCAR. Is there any way they could do that? Were the cars impounded? I’m really confused about all of it myself and I’m not a Jr. fan at all. I’m a Gordon fan all the way, but I can’t make any sense out of these penalties. This has been the craziest year I can remember and we’ve barely even begun the season…
yeah there u go nascar you all can go ____ yourselves as far as im concerned..just goes to show RIGHT THERE that Hendrick gets away with everything and anyone else gets their feet taken out from under them…im done with nascar ive watched the shit my entire 21 years on this earth and its never been this bad cept the past 5 years its gotten rediculous and im done..i wish you all fans the best of luck watching this garbage on sundays…whos coming with me? john darby, mike helton and brian france can ____ my ____ and ____.
The penalty is sever, but, you are missing the obvious. All the other teams had NO problem mounting their wings and everyone knew what to do. It was the 5th race for the Car of Crap. No excuses for the wrong mounting brackets, everyone knew what to do with the wing.
I think this is just crazy!! It wasn’t intentional. Why such a big penalty? Because they want everyone out there to make note that they don’t play favorites. It’s just so sad. I am starting to hate NASCAR more and more every week. I might just have to sell my tickets for the Fontana race this Sept.
Nascar is not Nascar anymore.
-Chris
aracerdude, i wish NASCAR was as consistent at something as you are at missing the obvious, even when its printed right in front of you.
“We’ve done a lot of offseason testing for NASCAR. There’s been three different styles of brackets on there and it just happened to be one of those old-style brackets.” Eury said the brackets were the same ones that weren’t discovered during pre- or post-qualifying inspections.
Also, —–> “It fit all of their templates.”
Not every team was in the situation that DEI was with pre-season testing and the COT. Not excuses, reasons.
“NASCAR claims that it was “unintentional” and therefore the team will not be fined or docked points.” That is from a quote from Daytona regarding the most superior team in NASCAR. Now, if NASCAR was that easy on a team like that for messing up on an entire car that is pretty much the same car that’s been raced for years then why doesn’t that logic carry over to just a part on a new car that isn’t being used full time? Especially when the part fits the templates.
NASCAR makes bigger mistakes. Where are their penalties?
its a pretty hefty penalty.
Thats one hell of a penalty… Can’t believe it. another NASCAR inconsistency.
As I said before, this whole friggin thing is ridiculous. All the evidence has been put out there and disected like a frog in 9th grade biology class. The fact STILL remains that NA$CAR (Yes, I put the $ there on purpose because that’s what it’s all about now) is inconsistent with it’s rules and regulations. This fine is complete and total B.S. And, add to the fact that they didn’t even USE the friggin brackets during the race, makes it that much worse.
Granted, they all knew what to do, and yeah, Eury miscalculated a bit. It’s not like he BLATANTLY cheated. Everyone makes mistakes. And? The fact that’s debatable is 1) The penalty is friggin crazy, and 2) If it was someone else, would the rules still apply? Someone else would have just been sent to the back of the damn line, pay a cheap fine, get put on probation for however long, and that would be that. Unless, you’re Hendrick, then of course rules don’t apply. We can all see that.
I’m not stating this because it’s Junior and I’m a huge fan of his. I would say this if it was anyone like Stewart, Waltrip, Hamlin, Montoya (And I despise him, BTW) or even Robbie Gordon. NA$CAR is screwing up, and they need to be called on it.
Oh yeah, they were by Stewart, and he got his ass handed to him. Nevermind.
So much for fair competition.
go ahead nascar give the people some more resnsons to throw budwieser cans out on your tracks i just wish i had tickets to all the next SIX RACES bull
ok people say give some slack or be easy on jr because he’s a really populer driver for the fans. i;m a jeff and robby gordon fan and if it was jeff gordon, people would say to push it to the fullest punishment. jr doesn’t deserve any slack his crew should have changed them during their so call check every little thing. they got caught cheating and they said it clearly they got caught so they knew they were illegal.
Hmmm, indeed a hefty penalty. There’s really not much to say that you guys haven’t covered. I’m still a loyal NASCAR fan that is hanging in there with their transition into Formula One. LOL.
people wouldnt take it to this level if nascar punished hendrick like they do everybody else. honestly the were consistent in sayin theyd take the 100 points for cot violations but i think they jus apply those rules to everyone except hendrick.they must be making up in lost ticket sales by bein bought out by hendrick people. and we all kno that if hamlin was on gordons ass wen the white flag came out that a caution would have come out for somthin.
Axel,
Any crew chief who doesn’t know his car inside and out is not a good crew chief. Nascar has always been inconsistant, they are in the entertainment business. They change the rules for close racing and itr always hurts the integrity of the sport, because they do not see it as a sport, but merely entertainment.
DEI had there COT cars pass inspection in 4 other races, they kne what brackets ti use, to have the wrong one on the car is just stupid.
Did it say anywhere who will be Jr’s crew chief for the next six races? Just don’t recall reading that anywhere in the stories.
From speedtv.com:
The violations were found during pre-race inspection on May 12.
In a statement issued by the team, DEI will appeal.
“The car in question was a brand new car for the No. 8 team, and the brackets that were found to be nonconforming were built as test pieces before the final design was established by NASCAR,” a statement from DEI read. “They should not have been on the car, and with Tony Eury Jr. away from the track Thursday during inspection, the error was not caught. We do not question the infraction, which is clearly spelled out in the NASCAR rule book. However, we have appealed the severity of the penalty.”
i c the future with nascar……DALE JR HAS A STICKER ON HIS DASH FINE HIM 500 POINTS AND 500,000 DOLLARS PFFT JUST KICK HIM OUTTA NASCAR ALL TOGETHER A STICKER IS BAD…nascar officials no good
leave the guy alone
I have to agree with just about everyone here. They are being extremely harsh with Dale Jr and Tony Jr. I love Nascar and have for a while. But if they keep being inconstant with their fines I WILL stop watching and going to races. Its just crazy. They are gettin the the media they want but let me tell you it isn’t by any means positive! It will turn more people against NASCAR. Yes I understand cheating is a problem but it was found POST RACE INSPECTION! Not after the race! Give me a break!
Nascar straighten your act up or your gonna lose more than TV ratings!
Once again the king speaks. Screw NASCAR. I have purchased my last ticket.
To the people who say “If this was Hendrick, nobody would be whining.”
I ask you. Do you really wanna play that game? I wouldn’t care if it
was JIMMIE JOHNSON, I would still be flabbergasted by this penalty.
It’s completely and utterly ridiculous. I realize they “outlined the
penalties for COT infractions”, but do you realize they don’t even
race it full-time yet? Jr && DEI offered to help Nascar in the off-season
by testing, and because they were using brackets other teams have
probably never even seen, they made a mistake. A mistake they even
admit to, meaning obviously they didn’t do it on purpose. And the
brackets weren’t even used in the race. Obviously they should of been
penalized, but to this degree? Not a chance in hell. And it still
fit all of Nascar’s guidelines;; they’re just throwing a hissy-fit
because they want to 100% control everything. That’s why they’re
mandating all these parts. And to anyone who says “Nascar’s always
been inconsistent;; why be bothered by it now?” Oh, I don’t know,
because they’re the sanctioning body of one of the biggest sports
enterprises in the world and it’s about high time they got their head
outta their ass before they drive away every single fan they have?
It’s sad, cuz I’ve always been a big Nascar fan, and had to balance
trying to record those to watch em later if a race should fall on a
day when I was going to a local [[dirt]] track. I’ve got stacks n
stacks of tapes of every race from the last several years. I think
I have maybe two from this year, because they’re just not worth
watching anymore. I’d rather go to the local tracks;; atleast there
you’re getting a good show and you know for sure it’s all real racing.
There’s getting to be more conspiracy theories about Nascar than there
is about the JFK assassination and the moon landing combined.
I have to agree on this one the penalty is way to steep. If it gave them an advantage and they raced with it then the fine would fit but that did not happen and I dont see how a bracket can give you any advantage at all. NASCAR does need to review this and modify the penalty. Much less maybe 20 points 1 race and 10000 fine but even that is a little much. I understand Nascar needs to make sure the crews get the idea not cheating follow the rules but there are much better ways to get that point accross.
I’m so sick of NASCAR now.
I’ve been OBSESSED with it for the past 6 years now..and this season i guess NASCAR decided to act like WWE.
So everyone that yelled about Tony Stewart being wrong about NASCAR and the fairness of the races…
NOW do you see???
I personally think Tony was right and look what happened to him. They can use all the excuses they want on why the fined him but we all know the truth.
My fav driver you ask. Well it’s not Tony but I do agree with him.
I wonder what the penalty would have been if it had been Jimmie or Jeff Gordon ? Nascar…your sending fans OUT the gates not bringing them in !
As far as this outrageous penalty goes…well you just can’t fix STUPID!