Stewart’s ridiculous, absurd fine will now overshadow his return – news that had already turned his comments about the lack of a lug nut rule into an afterthought.It’s too bad three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart had to sit out this season’s first eight races with a freak back injury sustained in an ATV accident and will be starting his first race of the season at Richmond, Va. this weekend.Stewart will return to his No. 14 Chevrolet on Friday in preparation for this weekend’s race in Richmond.
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Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, announced Friday the organization will look at going back to a rule that forced teams to tighten five lug nuts on each wheel at pit stops until 2015. Using few lug nuts has led to a rash of loose wheels in the past two races.
The penalty for a wheel coming off is a minimum four-race suspension for the team’s crew chief, tire carrier and tire changer. A win there this weekend would get him in the Chase since NASCAR granted Stewart a waiver to make him eligible despite missing the early-season races.
With a strong chance of rain in the Friday afternoon forecast, Annett was pushing the issue, trying to post a fast lap in case qualifying was washed out and the field was ordered according to practice speeds.
The fine falls under NASCARs new behavioral policy.
Joey Logano, a former teammate of Stewart, agreed.
“Obviously, one of the stories this week has been some concerns about safety from one of our drivers and obviously NASCAR has worked very, very hard in the areas of safety and it certainly a topic that we take very seriously”, Miller said. “This is not a game you play with safety and that’s exactly the way I feel like NASCAR is treating this”.
Meanwhile, Stewart’s peers will pay the $35,000 fine NASCAR levied against him for criticizing the series about a potential safety hazard during races.
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“I know it’s all special memories for us to be able to go out there and compete with him”, Hamlin said. Stewart is a member of the council, which was formed a year ago and its members are elected by all the drivers in the Sprint Cup Series. “Safety. that’s the most important thing we have to achieve”. “It is a never-ending assignment and we accept that”, France said Thursday during a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors in NY. It consists of Stewart, Hamlin, Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick. The group added Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch this year to replace outgoing members Jeff Gordon, who retired, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray. “I think that’s what I was most excited about – not for myself, but for my team, because we’re like a family and (team owner) Ron (Devine) and I are like family”. We do take offense that anything we do is somehow leading toward an unsafe environment.
