So, Denny Hamlin has been fined $25,000 for comments he made following last week’s Sprint Cup Race in Phoenix. He said he, “didn’t want to be a pessimist…” then proceeded to say the current car does not drive as well as the previous car. As he was speaking I recognized the potential for trouble from NASCAR. Before the season was truly underway, it was reported that NASCAR told the drivers NOT to make negative comments about the new car to the media. They were trying to avoid the negativity that began early with the Gen 5 car (the C.O.T.).
During the post race interview Denny mentioned that the current car is like the previous car was at first. So, NASCAR tells the drivers not to make negative comments in an attempt to avoid the problems they encountered with the C.O.T., and Denny, not only makes negative comments, but also makes a direct comparison to the unpopular Gen 5 car. NASCAR would have been remiss if it had not fined Denny.
NASCAR met with Brad Keselowski the previous week about his running off at the mouth in the media. If I were a NASCAR official I would see Denny’s disregard of NASCAR’s mandate as an affront to NASCAR’s authority. I mean seriously, if your boss told you not to publicly your company’s denigrate the latest and greatest new product and you did just that on-camera, what response would you expect?
I understand we live in a country with the right to free speech, but that right is not unlimited. You cannot make threats. You cannot cause a panic (for instance yelling fire in a crowded theater). You cannot publicly make professionally damaging, untrue statements without penalty. There are lots of rules restricting free speech and many Homeland Security measures created more in the past decade or so. If you have a job, you probably have restrictions regarding what you can and cannot say about your workplace. That’s simply the way the world works.
So Petty Kyle feels froggy and decides to hop into the fray with the following:
“I’m going to stand behind Denny on this one. Just because it’s NASCAR’s ball and their ballpark and they make the rules doesn’t necessarily mean that there can be censorship, and there appears to be a lot of censorship in this fine. NASCAR wants drivers to have personalities and character and to express themselves but only if they say positive and not negative things. I don’t know anyone who can do that.
“I’m going to buy me a Denny Hamlin hat and t-shirt because drivers should stick up for themselves. It’s hard to believe that this sport has come to this, where we fine drivers for comments. Whatever happened to fining drivers for big motors and illegal bodies and cheating on the track? Now it appears they don’t have a right to have an opinion off the racetrack.
“I could not survive in this sport as a driver at this time. I’d be paying a fine every week. I’d be broke.
“But here’s the way it works: It’s NASCAR’s ball, their ballpark, their rules and if you want to play, you gotta pay. You can stand up and blow smoke and hot air all you want, but somebody’s going to have to pay that fine if it comes down to that, or it’s going to have to be appealed and overturned.”
Why is Petty Kyle under the impression that misbehavior equals personality? He and Kurt Busch seem to have dictionaries with that strange definition of the word personality. Yes, everybody wants the drivers to show personality, but that doesn’t give them the right to disregard NASCAR’s rules and mandates. We have heard drivers say negative things that are picked up by the mainstream media and used as examples of NASCAR’s backward nature & policies. We have heard drivers say negative things that resulted in changes in NASCAR. But at this time, under the current circumstances, NASCAR needed to send a message to the drivers. Prior to this incident Brad Keselowski gave his version of the state of NASCAR address. His printed comments were followed by fans getting hurt in the stands during a race drawing negative publicity; that unfortunate incident was followed by a driver using a racial slur in front of a member of the media.
Two races into the season and driver behavior is almost out of control already. NASCAR needs to regain control and exert its authority. I wish Petty Kyle had to survive as a driver at this time. He might learn some self-control. Sadly he’s managed to reach his age without learning respect and self-control. It’s past time he learned and maybe NASCAR could teach it to him. Sadly he’s not required to be responsible and professional in his daily life, nor at work, resulting in foolish comments like the above. Petty Kyle, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch all need to grow up and all need to learn to control their mouths. Most of us learn to control our speech in elementary school (if not before).
NASCAR has total responsibility to do what’s right for the sport. Drivers are charged with acting professionally and representing the sport well, but they do not shoulder ultimate responsibility for the sport. If not for NASCAR they would not have jobs. They agree to abide by the rules and regulations of NASCAR when they choose to become a NASCAR driver. Drivers should do their jobs and support NASCAR in doing the best for the sport. I am not saying NASCAR is always right. NASCAR is a group of imperfect humans, so that’s not possible, but in this particular situation I think their actions are understandable and reasonable.
$25,000 sounds like a lot of money to most people, but we did not receive $157,575 for our last work-week, nor $330,739 for the previous work week. So we’re definitely dealing with a different scale with regard to the money. It’s not a paltry sum, but it also isn’t his annual salary. He can afford to pay or not to pay. The amount is most likely less than he loses on most of his golf bets. Denny likes to gamble. He gambled with his post-interview comments and lost. I don’t think he refuses to pay his other debts and I hope he allows his self-respect and adult-self to spend a little time out of the closet and do what’s right.