Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004 | 10:41 a.m.
NASCAR this morning fined Nextel Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. $10,000 and docked him 25 championship points for swearing during an interview on live television following his victory in Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Earnhardt's championship points total has been adjusted from 5,543 points to 5,518, which dropped him from first to second in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" with seven races remaining. Las Vegas native Kurt Busch assumed the lead in NASCAR's revised format to determine the series champion.
Busch, who has a victory and two fifth-place finishes in the first three races of the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," now holds a 12-point lead over Earnhardt.
Earnhardt announced today, through his team, that he would appeal the penalty.
Richie Gilmore, director of competition for Dale Earnhardt Inc., said the 25-point penalty would be "devastating" for Earnhardt under the new 10-race playoff format.
"I think we're the only sport that takes points off of the board after they've been scored," Gilmore said. "The popularity of this sport is based on colorful personalities and the fact that everyone can relate to these drivers and their emotions. Now, it seems like that's a detriment.
"Dale Jr.'s comment was made in the excitement of the moment, seconds after he climbed out of the car; it wasn't made in anger or hostility directed at anyone."
NASCAR president Mike Helton repeatedly has warned drivers this season about using obscene language during television and radio interviews. NASCAR Busch Series drivers Johnny Sauter was fined $10,000 and docked 25 points for an infraction following the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and Ron Hornaday received the same penalty following a Busch race at Dover in June.
Earnhardt earned his fifth Nextel Cup victory of the season Sunday and fifth in 10 career starts at Talladega -- a track where his father, the late Dale Earnhardt, won 10 times in his career. Immediately after the race, in Victory Lane, an NBC television reporter asked Earnhardt Jr. what it meant to win for the fifth time at Talladega.
"It don't mean s--- right now," a jubilant Earnhardt said. "Daddy's won here 10 times."
Later, during his post-race interview in the media center, Earnhardt clearly was worried about the possibility of being penalized by NASCAR for his language in the TV interview.
"Johnny Sauter said it in a fit of anger; I said it in Victory Lane," Earnhardt said. "If anybody was offended by the four-letter word I said ... I can't imagine why they would have tuned into a race in the first place."
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