Filed under: NASCAR

OK, let's get this straight.

A driver intentionally wrecking someone at 180 mph under NASCAR's "Boys Have It" doctrine is acceptable? But a driver criticizing the sport won't be tolerated?

That's what we're to believe following a report this week revealing that NASCAR has "secretly" fined at least two of the sport's star drivers for comments NASCAR believed compromised the integrity of the sport.

At last, NASCAR is drawing the line ... in invisible ink.

What's more disconcerting than NASCAR behaving like the KGB is the inherent distrust this situation creates. After decades of don't-ask-and-do-what-we-tell-you governance, NASCAR had finally turned the tide into full sporting credibility.

News that drivers risk discipline for speaking out unfortunately just gives more ammunition to the vocal group of conspiracy theorists -- those quick to insist that a "fix" was in when Richard Petty won his 200th victory on July 4, 1984, in front of President Reagan, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Daytona this month driving a No. 3 car, or even Chip Ganassi's historic sweep this past weekend in Indianapolis.

It only encourages and invigorates those skeptics who wonder about all the mysterious "debris" cautions late in the race or how one team can be so dominant.

And that's too bad.

 

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