Earnhardt Jr. Speeding in the pits?

Question

FROM NASCAR.COM:

Earnhardt mounted a strong bid to snap his 73-race winless streak, leading 76 laps in the latter portion of the evening. But he appeared to lose his right-rear tire while running out front, and his Chevrolet slid into the wall and bounced along it until finally coming to a stop. He had additional damage when J.J. Yeley ran into the back of him, and he sped to pit road for repairs.

NASCAR initially penalized him one lap for speeding past the safety workers, but rescinded it after further review. Stewart, who inherited the lead when Earnhardt wrecked and held it after the ensuing pit stops, was baffled by the non-call.

"Now how does that work?" he called.

No one was quite sure, but Earnhardt rallied to finish fifth.

Elaborate on this? Why was there no penalty?

Answer 1

i don't know, maybe the same reason denny hamlin wasn't fined or had points taken away from him after he stopped on the track at richmond with less than 10 laps to to intentionally bring out the caution that allowed his teammate, who was being smoked at the time, catch up to the race leader and wreck him, altering the outcome of the race. maybe the NASCAR officials were using that same logic tonight. but no, wait, junior sped on pit road, what's the penalty for that? oh yeah, it's having to restart at the end of the longest line, which is exactly what junior had to do, so after further review it appears NASCAR imposed the correct penalty. so now that i've cleared that up for ya you can put down the haterade and go to bed.

Answer 2

I'm no Jr fan, but he wasn't endangering that sweeper on pit road.  He did have to serve the speeding penalty, and that's the only penalty he should have had.

Answer 3

He he got a drive through penalty that put him in the back of the line.  For speedng in the pits. If not then I don't know.  I think he did great by finishing 5th with a tore up race car.

Answer 4

To elaborate on what Rob said...Nascar reviewed there inital ruling, deciding that the speed in which JR passed the safety workers did not put anyone in danger so they revoked it, funny thing is Jerry the Nascar columist said that Nascar was showing favoritism towards Junior, again showing that people continue to showignorance to the fact that Nascar reamins somewhat fair, funny thing is that penalty was also awarded to Kyle Busch....it was fair...and Nascar did get something right...few and far between but they got it right....

Answer 5

i watched the race, i heard that nascar reviewed the tape when he went past the clean up crew or whoever it was, and they said the he didnt put anyone is harms-way and no one was in danger, so they took it away

Answer 6

im pretty much repeating what others said but he didnt endanger the safety crew so they revoked that penalty but he still had to do a drive threw and start at the tale end of the lead lap cars which HE DID!!!!

Answer 7

because you touch your self at night

Answer 8

After listening to it they reviewed and decided that he didn't put the crews in any danger.  It is not the first time that they have rescinded a penalty.

Answer 9

Elaborate on this maybe Jr just isnt as good a he or anyone else thinks, If his name want Dale Earnhardt Jr he would be a no body by now, he was really good in The Busch series but come on now hes really not all that good in the sprint cup

Answer 10

Nascar took the penalty back, after pit officials reported he was 3 miles under the speed limit in the pits, he was not speeding....and it was even said on Speed Week, it was ruled he was not speeding when it was called against him.

sorry, he did nothing wrong,and pit official admitted he was not speeding.....

no foul, no penalty.....

Answer 11

Correct me if I am wrong Jr. fans, but isnt the reason that he was on pit road in the first place was because he did a extra damage to his car because he could not drive it away from the wall.  Doesnt that mean that his car was not steering properly?  How could he have known that the steering would hold up until he got the car in the pits?  It was a selfish and dangerous move.

I wonder if the safety crews were happy with the decision?  What happens next time some idiot decides to do the same thing and then crashes into the safety crew.

Answer 12

my guess, because it was JR, endangering the lives of safety crew don't matter.

There were 2 separate infractions and they should be served separately, not at the same time.

If you murder 2 people, the time served should not be at the same time for each, it should be served one after the other.

Answer 13

I am very surprised that Jr never received a speeding penalty.  I was sitting on the frontstretch and after he wrecked, it looked like he was FLYING down pit road.

Answer 14

Well, I'm not sure how the speeding rules are written, but he came no where near that safety truck on pit road. It plainly showed it during the race. If it's a judgment call, they made the right call.

The penalty for speeding on pit road during a yellow flag is going to the tail end of the longest line, which he did.