motorsportmania

So NASCAR have penalised MWR for their actions in manipulating the race results last weekend at Richmond. Fair enough, but it was only a case of team orders being used to change both the race result and the outcome of the championship and that sort of things is as old as racing; it got banned in F1 for a while before being re-instated as a tactic, so were MWR wrong?

Well they were according to NASCAR and that is all that matters because the ruling body rules with a big stick, but what happens next time NASCAR fix a race result? What is going to be the penalty when they stink up a race with a competition caution with 25 or 30 laps to go when someone has the field beat that day?

You can’t have your cake and eat it NASCAR. If you don’t like a team working for each other in the decider race what about through the rest of the season? What about someone letting a team mate get their lap back, or blocking for a team mate, or giving them a push? Were does it end?

Commiserations to Martin Truex Jr and congratulations to Ryan Newman. I can see both sides on this one and both drivers are good guys, but consider this; he Chase is a cynical manipulation of the season and without it we wouldn’t have had the incident at Richmond.

A decision has been made and the penalty accepted with dignity by the team concerned, but a precedent has been set and I don’t think that it is a good one. The ruling body has penalised a team for something that they do themselves at will; manipulating the outcome of the race (and the season). If you don’t want race fixing then set an example and don’t do it yourself.

Filed under: F1, NASCAR, Teams | Tagged: F1, formula one, NASCAR, team orders |