After the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Amp Energy 500 Carl Edwards will meet with the fan injured as a result of his crash at Talladega earlier this year. (Photo: Getty Images)

LEGAL AFFAIRS AJ Allmendinger’s drunk driving arrest early Thursday morning in Mooresville, N.C. resulted in him being fined $10,000 by Richard Petty Motorsports and put on probation by both RPM and NASCAR. According to police reports, Allmendinger blew a .08, right on the North Carolina legal limit, when he was stopped at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning.

“We are disappointed with his actions,” RPM said in a statement. “A.J. has told us that he has accepted full responsibility for his actions and will do what is right. We have placed A.J. on probation through the end of the 2010 racing season. In addition, he will be fined $10,000 which will be donated to charity.”

Kasey Kahne, Allmendinger’s teammate, added, “As far as my team, we know how much Budweiser is about being responsible and drinking responsibly. No drunk driving. We know that. Budweiser’s really big with responsibility and it’s nice to have a sponsor like that.”

Allmendinger was forced by NASCAR to take a breathalyzer test Friday morning at Talladega Superspeedway before he was allowed on the track.

Other drivers generally supported how the case was being handled. “I don’t think there is any problem with NASCAR’s policy and the team always does have the right at any time,” said Mark Martin. “It always has in the contracts they can suspend. I think it’s being handled fine.”

“This is not a franchise sport,” added Jeff Gordon. “This is independent contractors. I think that obviously you have to reprimand certain actions. I really haven't gotten into the details of that. All I can tell you is that this sport is dictated by our fan base and our sponsors. And if your actions off the track impact that enough, you're going to get penalized. To me, that penalty is far going to outweigh anything that the series can do. We all have situations where we make mistakes. I think each one is handled no differently.”

EDWARDS REACHING OUT Carl Edwards said that if he wins Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, he’s giving the race trophy to Blake Bobbitt, the young woman who suffered a broken jaw when hit by a piece of debris that flew off of Edwards’ car after he slammed into the Talladega catchfence on the last lap of April’s race here.

“I’ll see and meet her on Sunday and it will be cool just to get to talk to her,” Edwards said. “We’ve texted a little bit. She sent me some photos so I at least knew what she looked like. If I see her somewhere I can say, ‘Hey,’ and it’ll be cool to meet her. I don’t have anything planned just yet, but I already know if I can win this race that trophy is going to her, for sure. That would be the best thing to give her.”

MAN UP Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon had a minor dust-up last weekend racing for position at Martinsville Speedway, but Montoya insisted that reports of a full-blown feud were wildly exaggerated.

“At the end of the race, he came and got inside of me, we never touched, I gave him enough room,” said Montoya. “After about three laps side-by-side, I said, ‘He is faster than me and I needed to let him go.’ And then he let me go afterwards. It is ok. Problem solved. What are you going to talk about it? Are we going to kiss and make up? No, we’re not. We are big boys here, we understand each other.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to