NASCAR fined driver Denny Hamlin $25,000 this week for simply offering his honest opinion of their new Generation 6 Spring Cup cars according to the Associated Press.
"Following the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, Denny Hamlin made some disparaging remarks about the on-track racing that had taken place that afternoon," NASCAR said in a press statement. "While NASCAR gives its competitors ample leeway in voicing their opinions when it comes to a wide range of aspects about the sport, the sanctioning body will not tolerate publicly made comments by its drivers that denigrate the racing product."
So what exactly was the issue? Hamlin has some problems with the new car, and when asked about it this week he didn't hold back.
"I don't want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our Generation 5 cars," Hamlin said according to Yahoo. "This is more like what the Generation 5 was at the beginning. The teams hadn't figured out how to get the aero balance right. Right now, you just run single-file and you cannot get around the guy in front of you. You would have placed me in 20th-place with 30 (laps) to go, I would have stayed there, I wouldn't have moved up. It's just one of those things where track position is everything."
The fine was most likely a message by NASCAR to discourage drivers from discussing the new cars in a negative light. Either that or the NASCAR Foundation really needed money. NASCAR officials have already stated they will not go into more detail on exactly what Hamlin said that they didn't like.
Hamlin had more to say at the media center later in the day.
"I hate to be Denny downer, but I just didn't pass that many cars today," Hamlin said according to SportingNews. "That's the realistic fact of it. You look and we started 40 something, we finished third and you think that we just motored our way through the pack, and that's just not the case of what happened."
Media outlets from all over the nation have discussed the fine at great lengths and feel the driver shouldn't be punished for "expressing his opinion" and "stating the facts." If anything, Hamlin might have been trying to help out NASCAR by voicing issues that could be fixed in the future.
"I do believe we give our drivers a lot of flexibility when it comes to that, whether it be about officiating or about how a race is called," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said to reporters in Las Vegas this week. "The main area of focus here we take exception to is the product, the racing. That's our brand, that's the drivers' brand, that's the sport's brand and that's an area we feel very strongly about."
Hamlin said this week that he doesn't plan on paying the fine, and feels "disrespected" by NASCAR.
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