NASCAR Stars Fined For Garage Fight

14 Oct, 2014

Brad Keselowski was fined $50,000 and Tony Stewart $25,000 for their parts in a post-race pit road and garage brawl in last Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both drivers were also put on probation for four races.

Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ, tangled with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin in the closing laps of the race and the cool-down lap afterward. Neither of the JGR drivers was penalized.

Kenseth parked his car on pit road and when he did, Keselowski rammed him hard from behind, veering into Stewart in the process. Stewart then put his car in reverse and backed hard into Keselowski’s Penske Ford.

Keselowski then drove to the Sprint Cup garage with Hamlin in pursuit. With crewmen and NASCAR officials nearby, Keselowski did a burnout in the middle of one of the garage stalls on the way back to his hauler.

“To wreck somebody on the racetrack and come down pit road with other cars and people standing around and my seatbelts off and drive in the side of me is inexcusable,” said Kenseth after the incident. “There’s no excuse for that. He’s a champion. He’s supposed to know better than that.”

“Those guys can dish it out, but they can’t take it,” countered Keselowski. “I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don’t know what’s up with that.”

“We got to pit lane and he (Keselowski) just plowed into the 14 (Stewart) and the 20 (Kenseth),” said Kenseth. “He was just out of control.”

Historically, NASCAR has allowed drivers to trade paint on the track or even confront each other when out of their cars, but ramming other cars on pit road or accelerating through the garage has been frowned on.

Following is the full NASCAR statement on the penalties:

NASCAR has assessed behavioral penalties to drivers Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart for their involvement in post-race incidents on Oct. 11 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Keselowski has been fined $50,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events through Nov. 12 for violating:

· Section 12-1: Actions detrimental to stock car racing

· Section 12-4.9: Behavioral penalty – involved in post-race incidents

Stewart has been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events through Nov. 12 for violating:

· Section 12-1: Actions detrimental to stock car racing

· Section 12-4.9: Behavioral penalty – involved in a post-race incident

“These penalties are about maintaining a safe environment following the race,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president, competition and racing development. “We knew that the new Chase format was likely going to raise the intensity level and we want our drivers to continue to be themselves. However, the safety of our drivers, crew members, officials, and workers is paramount and we will react when that safety could be compromised.”

Fox Sports

Image Twitter

Mentioned In This Post: