Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
PRN/Sirius Radio's Jim Noble tweeted Monday that Ryan Newman was secretly fined $50,000 for punching Juan Pablo Montoya in the NASCAR hauler at Darlington.
Could it be true? Could NASCAR really have issued another secret penalty, even after the negative public relations fallout from last year's unannounced fines to drivers who criticized the sport?
Say it ain't so.
Newman, of course, was also penalized then – along with Denny Hamlin – after comments about racing at Talladega landed him in hot water (Hamlin was fined $50,000 for tweets detrimental to stock car racing).
Certainly, though, NASCAR has learned its lesson about transparency since that time. Officials wouldn't have done it again, would they?
Believe it or not, it seems as though it may have happened again.
When fans who saw Noble's tweet started tweeting Newman's wife, Krissie, about whether her husband was fined, she responded:
@krissienewman: I am not commenting on the "secret fine" ask @odsteve (NASCAR VP Steve O'Donnell) if you want to know.
For the record, we asked NASCAR on Monday afternoon, and this was the comment we received from NASCAR's Kerry Tharp:
Anything relevant to discussions NASCAR has with the competitors in the hauler stays between NASCAR and the competitors. And NASCAR will always work to protect that bridge of confidence.
It will be interesting to hear what Newman has to say about this at Pocono.
4 comments
Comments
Secret fines?
Maybe. NASCAR administration maybe realizing that in the long run they don’t want to be thought of as a ’knockdown drag-out fighting organization". Although a lot of the public lights the in-fighting in the long run it could run the big-money sponsors off. The major sponsors want good PR from the cars and teams they sponsor. They want to use those people in advertising and having them thought of from their last fight does not impress the companies. There are teams out there now that cannot find sponsorship to run and with this poor PR it will get worse. Much worse.
by 70GTX on Jun 6, 2011 5:41 PM EDT reply actions
Newman secretly fined
I’ve said it all along, and NASCAR has maintained it…what happens in the NASCAR hauler STAYS in the NASCAR hauler…
Maybe RC should have put up a rucus and pulled Shrub into the NASCAR hauler before putting him in a headlock…then surely SOMEONE would have stepped in to stop him before he hit him reportedly hit him 3 times……the observers of THIS incident sure didn’t rush to stop him…..
by Cnuk994RFR on Jun 6, 2011 6:01 PM EDT reply actions
Don't like secret penalties.
Sure keep convos secret, that’s fine, but if it’s an actual $$$ fine, NASCAR should disclose it. It’s what professional sports do. Am I to infer that Newman has never said anything about a fine for hitting Montoya because nobody asked him? Newman’s a pretty straight up guy. We’ll see at Pocono.
by DRLDeBoer on Jun 6, 2011 6:37 PM EDT reply actions
What's the 1st rule of Fight Club?
How can they keep what happens in the hauler a secret, if they have to disclose any fines for what happens in the hauler.
I don’t buy into “transparency” as a necessity.
by kwms on Jun 6, 2011 6:54 PM EDT reply actions
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