NASCAR mailbag: Trying to make sense of Tony Stewart’s fine

Want to know a good way to rile up a fan base and assure emails will amass in the inbox? Have Tony Stewart sound off on an issue pertaining to safety, a problem NASCAR is slow to address, and in a manner that essentially forces the sanctioning body’s hand and earns him a fine that so outrages fellow drivers they pledge to pay the fine.

I’m so tired of NASCAR’s b***s***!! Tony says the same thing that other drivers have said and yet he’s the one who’s penalized. Huh? Why? Then they change the rule he was complaining about just days later. That’s ridiculous. Tell me there is an explanation for this boneheaded decision?

-- Al

Sorry, there is no reasonable explanation to be had except that NASCAR took exception not with Stewart saying a rule change needed to occur, but with his tone and the manner that he questioned the sanctioning body’s commitment to safety. Had Stewart just called for an amendment to NASCAR’s lug policy and not delved off into that message, he would still have his $35,000.

Where things get a bit messy is that had Stewart not made such a demonstrative statement, NASCAR likely wouldn’t have changed the rule mandating five lugs as quickly as it did. But the attention Stewart attracted, in addition to the Drivers Council backing him in unprecedented fashion, forced NASCAR’s hand.

How the whole saga unfolded was odd and further underscores how the dynamic has shifted within the sport. NASCAR has long operated as a quasi-dictatorship but that power has receded in recent years, in part through the formation of the Race Team Alliance and the Drivers Council. And though it can (and still does) punish drivers, NASCAR also must come to terms with the fact drivers now have a collective voice and have shown no qualms about using it. The chain of events last week felt very much like the opening salvo in drivers asserting themselves more forcefully as a collective where they are less inclined to go along with something just because NASCAR says so.

What Tony Stewart said doesn’t surprise me and I respect him for his passion on an issue that involves protecting himself and others. What I’m bothered with is this seemed like more a team issue from get go. No one is forcing teams to not use five lug nuts and if he’s that worried about it, then tell his team to not use less than five.

-- Kelly

At its core the number of lug nuts being applied is a team-specific issue, and if a driver had objections with what corners their crews were cutting to gain track position, then yes, the option was there to say something.

Except like anything in sports, once one team finds an advantage it compels others to either do the same or risk falling behind. That’s why NASCAR needed to step in, in essence to protect teams from themselves. Because had a wheel come off and the worst did transpire it ultimately would be NASCAR, not the teams, to come under scrutiny for not doing everything possible to ensure the safety of its competitors and fans.

Is there a way I can contribute to pay Tony’s fine? It’s things like this that infuriate me and make me question why I follow a sport that is thin-skinned and tone-deaf. You can’t fine a driver one day for saying something then turn around the next and change that very rule. Tell me where to send a check.

-- Tommy

Sorry, no one is taking contributions. And let’s be honest, Stewart needs no help paying the fine. But besides the lug nut policy changing for the better, if there is some good to come out of this ordeal it’s that Stewart is taking the $35,000 offered by the Drivers Council and donating it toward Autism Delaware.

I know I’m in the minority, but I have no issue with NASCAR fining Tony. It’s not like he couldn’t have gone to NASCAR directly and said something behind closed doors and not use the media as his megaphone. What did he think was going to happen when he started talking about safety stuff and what NASCAR can do better?

-- Jim

A valid point regarding Stewart going to NASCAR behind the scenes and one NASCAR CEO Brian France emphasized during a Monday appearance on SiriusXM Radio. If Stewart was that passionate he certainly could have spoken to NASCAR directly and raised his concerns face-to-face -- he is after all a member of the Drivers Council, which has a meeting scheduled for this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

That said, Stewart is smart and knows how to get a message out if he wants it heard. And what better way than by speaking with the media midweek, the most advantageous time to grab the headlines, and using public pressure to initiate change. Whether it was intended or not, this sure seems calculated on Stewart’s part. And kudos to him, because it worked even if he had to pay a fine.

Here’s what I don’t understand: NASCAR is going to require teams to have five lugs on, but how are they going to officiate it? From what I understand didn’t they layoff a bunch of officials?

-- Rich

Checking wheels pre- and postrace won’t be an issue, but how NASCAR plans to police lug nuts during a race is the great unknown in all this.

When it went to a technology-based pit road monitoring system prior to last season, NASCAR laid off several officials citing no need to continue having someone stand in every stall. With this change does NASCAR increase the number of officials on pit road? Does it even have the manpower to do so?

The best guess is if a driver reports a loose wheel requiring them to pit, NASCAR will send an official to that stall to observe the tire coming off the car to see how many lug nuts are fastened. What is known is that this will be a continually evolving process.