No Win Situation

Carl Edwards should not be listed as the winner of the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week.

His car was illegal.

He drove to the checkered flag in a vehicle that was outside the NASCAR rulebook.

NASCAR basically said he wasn't the winner of the race by taking away not only 100 championship points but the 10 point bonus for victories which is used to see the "Chase."

But rather than strip him of the win completely, as should have been done with the victory awarded to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - the second place driver but the first to cross the finish line in a legal car - the win stands.

That's been NASCAR's policy for years. There have been numerous times when the "winning" car was found to be cheating. Yet despite fines and penalties the win stood.

That does nothing but hurt the sport's credibility.

If a player hits a game-winning homerun with a corked bat, he doesn't keep the homer on his record nor does his team get the runs scored from the blast added to its game total.

Only in NASCAR can an athlete drive what amounts to a corked bat to victory lane.

It's time to change that policy or be faced with the prospect of even less of a credibility factor than Tony Stewart claimed last year.
Posted: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
Comments:
Thanks-a-lot Pete.....great write btw

The policy of not taking a win away needs to be updated.

Everything in NASCAR has changed over the years except this.

Cheat to win, ya didn't win, how difficult is this to understand.
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
I hear ya Pete, even Greg Biffle, Carl's teammate, said wins should be taken away. I just feel cheated knowing that perhaps Dale Jr could have won that race Sunday.
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
I also agree Pete.  Take the win away as well as all of the points for the race rather than 100 points.  Sure, they can go celebrate in victory lane, but if the win gets taken away, that seems to me that it would also be an embarassment to the team and the sponsor.  Maybe then, the sponsors will put the heat on these guys to stop cheating!!  Suspension of crew chiefs also seems to be something that doesn't seem to worry or even really penalize these teams as some have proven by winning without them.
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
Preach it Pete. If they want to stop cheating, apply the fine and the points loss AND take away the win.

It is an outdated view that the fans should be able to leave the track knowing who the winner is.

BS

The fans should be able to leave the track and know who the winner is and that the winner didn't cheat.
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
I agree but I am wondering if this talk would be going on if Jimmie Johnson was second and not golden boy.  I think wins should go away but I am not sure how that should work.  I much more like the idea of suspensions.  You can keep that win but you are going to sit out 2 races because of it.  Suddenly it is a trade off the wrong way, sure you get a win but your season is basically ruined.  You cheat in the chase, you miss the rest of the season, cheat at Homestead, miss the 500.  I am sure the thoughts of missing the Daytona 500 would fix some of this.  

I am a Kurt Busch fan, but I believe he should have been suspended after Dover last year, but no, Nascar suspends Robby for questioning a call that I think everyone has admitted was wrong.  

I know Nascar doesn't want races with Jr. or Gordon not in them but it will be fixed real fast when it starts to happen.  

I think the sport is lopsided, good teams fighting for their careers out of the top 35 and the guys locked in cheat, sit some of these teams out and let everyone catch up, trust me, the cheating will go away.


In this case, Kenseth got wrecked by Gordon, who says he shouldn't be given the win since Jr. having a bad restart bunched up the field?  Why not Biffle, since Jr. blocked him on the last restart (or got loose up the hill as they say).  If we give the win to Jr., there are alot of arguments for 10 other guys that could have won it not for something Jr. was involved in.  Why run the race if you are just going to pick the winner?  How could we trace it back somehow to give the win to Travis Kvapil?

taking wins away = million pound can of worms and nascar is the giant can opener!
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
Say Robby Gordon won the Daytona 500. Then, afterwords he was issued a penalty and the win is stripped away.

Gordon wins an appeal.

Do you take away the win from the originally 2nd place car? It'll become a circus.

I'm not saying that I feel it's right that Carl Edwards was granted the win with an illegal car... but I think docking him points, cash, and the bonus chase points is about the best compromise to a really dicey situation.

*I realize that Robby's circumstances were different and that his infraction was pre-race along with many other variables in this hypothetical scenario.
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM
I couldn't agree more!
Posted On: 3/6/2008 12:16:00 PM

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