Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
There are perceptions from both inside and outside of racing that NASCAR treats Dale Earnhardt Jr. differently than it does its other drivers.
The conspiracy theorists have gone so far as to maintain that the sanctioning body fixes races and/or gives Earnhardt "special" restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega in order to improve his chances of winning. Those claims are ridiculous, of course, but it became clear on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway that NASCAR apparently has a different set of rules for its biggest star.
Earnhardt admitted that he purposely spun out late in the race in order to bring out a caution flag that prevented him from having to make a green-flag pit stop. Series director John Darby told the Charlotte Observer that he would not penalize Earnhardt based on his admission.
" 'I spun a car out' -- that's a great excuse for spinning a car out, but proving that is another story," Darby told the Observer. "To brag about it is not enough for me to make a move on it."
But that's exactly what NASCAR did in 2002 when it fined Kurt Busch for saying he intentionally spun out Robby Gordon in order to bring out a caution flag in The Winston all-star race in Charlotte. Busch insisted that he was joking, but NASCAR nonetheless slapped Busch with a $10,000 fine.
Busch was in ninth place with nine laps remaining when the race was restarted after a caution period but he gained six positions with the help of three accidents and a mental error by driver Mike Bliss. Bliss was running second with one lap to go and the field under caution when he pulled off the track, thinking the race was over. Bliss fell from second to 17th.
Busch said he wasn't counting on a top-three finish as the race unfolded.
"No, we really didn't," he said. "I figured ninth -- it's not what we wanted but I guess that's what we'll take and then you come down to the end of the race and you've got a lot of guys that are bumping and grinding.
"I knew it was going to be worse than a short-track shootout."
The finish was Busch's best in five Busch Series starts this season and allowed him to jump from 12th to eighth in points. Busch has been the highest-finishing rookie in all five races and holds a 19-point lead over Paul Menard in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.
Busch will attempt to make his second NASCAR Nextel Cup Series start in Sunday's Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He also will be racing in Saturday's Busch Series race at Texas.
It also was only the team's third top-10 finish since it entered the Nextel Cup series in 2002. Schrader piloted the car to an eight-place finish last August at Michigan International Speedway and a 10th-place showing last April at Martinsville Speedway.
"This Schwan's team did a fabulous job all day," Schrader said. "The car continued to get better throughout the race. We just want to thank (owners) Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau, the guys for giving me a great car, and Schwan's Home Service for making all this possible.
"We aren't satisfied by any means, but we're getting there. Tell you what, it feels good to have a finish that reflects the work this team has done."
Lynch, the defending West Series champion, led once for four laps. David Gilliland won the 150-lap race and Mike Duncan finished second. Lynch trails series leader Duncan by 63 points after two of 13 races.
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