NASCAR Fines Denny Hamlin For Comments Made Following Race At Phoenix International Raceway
NASCAR has fined driver Denny Hamlin $25,000 for comments he made following the March 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
NASCAR determined that Hamlin violated Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2013 NASCAR Rule Book.
NASCAR issued the following statement regarding the penalty:
“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. 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.”
According to Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press, the comments getting Hamlin the penalty: (part one and part two via twitter)
“I don’t want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our generation five cars. This is more like what the generation five was at the beginning.”
Updated with Denny Hamlin’s post penalty remarks:
“I’ll be honest. I’m not going to say anything for the rest of the year, as long as it relates to competition. You can ask me how my daughter is, talk to me after wins about what-have-you, but as long as it relates to competition, I’m out, from here on out.
“The bad part is that I feel like I’ve been a pretty good spokesman for them, and being positive when things aren’t always positive. They just lost one small spokesman today—that’s all. For what I understand, it’s comparing the Gen-6 car to the Gen-5, comparing the two. I shouldn’t have done that.
“Ultimately, I’m not OK with it. This is the most upset and angry I’ve been in a really, really long time, about anything, anything that relates to NASCAR. You have strong opinions about a lot of things, whether it be Clements’ suspension, things like that. A lot of people hold their tongues, and some people don’t—like Brad. The truth is what the truth is, and I don’t believe in this. I’m never going to believe in it. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not going to pay the fine. If they suspend me, they suspend me. I don’t care at this point.
“It’s an opinion, and it’s not even a bad one. I’ve got to be careful, because I don’t want to make things worse than they already are, and this is something that was absolutely nothing that got blown into to something, and it’s just going to be worse for them. So let them deal with it.”
And yet another update, on a twitter post from Denny Hamlin:
“The short of the long of it is I believe I was severely disrespected by NASCAR by getting fined. I believe that the simple fact of us not even having a conversation about this issue before I was hit with a fine has something to say about our relationship. What I said was 1 sentence taken completely out of context. Most drivers will tell you that we constantly have our AND nascars best interest in mind when speaking. On the other hand I am a person that worked very hard from the BOTTOM to get where I am today and someone telling me that I can give my 100 percent honest opinion really bothers me. Since being fined in 2010 I have been a lot more careful about what I say to media and I felt this past weekend felt completely in my rights to give a assessment of the question asked. I feel as if today NASCAR lost one of its biggest supporters vocally of where our sport is headed. So in the end there are no winners. I said today I would not pay the fine. I stand by that and will go through the process of appealing. Trust me, this is not about the money.. It’s much deeper. I will now shift my focus on giving FedEx and my team what they deserve this weekend, a win.”
Additional Statements from Robin Pemberton given during Thursday’s press conference:
Q. Denny Hamlin was saying he’s not planned to pay the fine that he was given for his comments. What would be the procedure and how long does he have to pay?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: He also has the ability to appeal. The fines have (loss of audio feed) window yet where it seems to be a problem.
Q. Where is the limitation for what drivers can say without facing a fine if they have concerns about the car, whatever?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: We give them quite a bit of latitude, but you can’t slam your racing, you can’t slam your product. That’s where it crosses a line.
Q. If Denny wants to appeal the fine, what would that process entail?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: He has to let us know. He has to write a letter.
Q. He can continue to compete?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Yes. It’s like every other appeal. Over the course of time, you remember mechanics and crew chiefs, whatever, if they appeal, then they can continue to carry on business as usual until the appeal has been heard and ruled on.
Q. Before the season started and you met with drivers, had your competition meeting, laid everything out, were there any warnings given to the drivers before they started the season not to go down this line of commentary?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I don’t think so. I think those were some of the conversations we may have had a few years ago. But it’s more of a matter of fact that you can’t criticize your core product, what you’re trying to do. Constructive criticism is one thing, but there’s different statements that people made that are damaging. That’s where we won’t tolerate those types of things.
Q. Just to clarify on that. When he does appeal, does it also go to the National Stockcar Racing Commission and then to the chief appellate officer?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: This isn’t any different than an illegal part or piece.
Q. You referenced it being damaging. When you met with the drivers, wasn’t there some sort of data you had, like poll data, where you showed them the impact of their comments on the COT? Is that where you believe some of the comments about the racing can affect fan opinion?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: That was so long ago, I can remember part of that vaguely. You have to remember, we meet over the course of the year more than just once. The beginning of the season just happens to get more headlines than others. But we’ve been meeting with teams on a regular basis for quite a few years now.
I think it’s fair to say any type of negative comment doesn’t do you any good.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) releases the following statement in response to NASCAR’s issuance of a fine to driver Denny Hamlin for his post-race comments in Phoenix last weekend:
“We have spoken with NASCAR and will continue to keep an open dialogue with them on this matter, but we will keep those discussions between the parties involved.
We will fully support Denny in his appeal process.”
