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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
JENSEN: NASCAR Answerman - California Edition
The NASCAR Answerman returns on SPEEDtv.com with this week's Auto Club 500 California Edition...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 19, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
The NASCAR Answerman on SPEEDtv.com - The Online Motorsports Authority

Why is it that NASCAR penalized Jason Leffler for taking out Stephen Wallace but when it came to Dale Earnhardt Jr. they looked the other way when he crashes the drivers out. Does NASCAR have different rules if your name is Dale Jr.? — Kyle Lanfair

As you might expect, most of my e-mail this week was about the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-Brian Vickers incident in the Daytona 500. And many of them said something very similar to the above question from Kyle. There were a fair number of profanity laced tirades about that one from both sides, but the bottom line is this: Despite Junior’s overwhelming popularity, fans are incensed that there appear to be two sets of rules, one for the sport’s regular drivers, and another for its superstars.

Whether NASCAR actually does have two sets of rules or not is debatable, but by parking Leffler for five laps after he wrecked Wallace in the Nationwide race on Saturday and doing nothing to Junior after wrecking Vickers in the Daytona 500, it created the perception that it is playing favorites. And sometimes perception is a harder thing to change than reality.

I would remind folks that this isn’t the first time this has happened. At Daytona in 2006, Tony Stewart blasted his fellow drivers after the Bud Shootout, saying they were going to kill somebody if they didn’t stop the bump drafting and aggressive driving. Then, during the Daytona 500, Stewart came down on Matt Kenseth in the backstretch, forcing him into infield at 190 miles per hour, where Kenseth spun and ended up in the fence in Turn 3. Stewart’s penalty? He was sent to the end of the longest line on the restart.

“Tony took me out intentionally,” Kenseth said. “There were no two ways about that.”

Stewart said he was merely retaliating for Kenseth pinching down on him earlier in the race in Turn 2. “He has no room to complain,” Stewart said. “He started it and I finished it.”

If NASCAR didn’t penalize Stewart in 2006 for deliberately wrecking a fellow driver at full speed and admitting it afterwards, they sure weren’t going to penalize Earnhardt this time. And by taking a hand’s-off approach to the superstars of the sport, NASCAR simply pours fuel on the fire of every conspiracy theorist out there. So there you have it.

Now, on to the other questions:

On the call of Junior being out of the pit box — what was the boy supposed to do? His car was on the jack, right-side lugs were off before the official even came over and made the call (watch the tape - I did - gotta love DVR's). So what could he have done? Drop the car with loose lugs? Not a good idea! Waited till the right sides were done then moved the car? What? No one has said anything about this. It's almost as if the official wasn't even sure. What do you think? — Brad Griffin, San Angelo, Texas

What do I think? Earnhardt made a mistake, a NASCAR official discovered it and correctly applied a prescribed penalty. The only thing Earnhardt could have or should have done is to do a better job of pitting in the first place and not miss his pit stall. I’m sorry, but this one was pretty black and white to me.

My question is regarding the Camping World Truck Series. The trucks usually have some of the most exciting racing of the weekend. It's great to watch, most of the time. However, why should I get all excited about guys like Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner, Ted Musgrave, Ron Hornaday and any other very experienced driver win a majority of the races and title championships?

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the Truck Series originally designed to be a proving or training ground for young or inexperienced racers to learn how to drive and compete in a touring NASCAR series? Nationwide too for that matter correct? Therefore seeing Benson, Hornaday etc should be like seeing Shaq play high school basketball and marvel he scored 110 points. NASCAR may want to take another page from the PGA Tour and have some kind of senior circuit for these guys and let the new guys get the recognition they need and deserve. — Andy, Stem, N.C.

That’s a great point, Andy. I think you raise a legitimate issue, but I would point out that these things tend to run in cycles. A lot of today’s Cup stars — Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, to name three — came up through the Truck Series. And there are a lot of interesting young guys in the series now, including Colin Braun, James Buescher, Tayler Malsem, Chase Austin, Chad McCumbee and others. But the youngsters who are really good advance through the series pretty quickly and don’t tend to stay for more than a year or so. That’s why guys like Erik Darnell and Scott Speed aren’t there anymore.

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Also, remember this: The Truck Series isn’t just a training ground for drivers. It’s also a great training ground for crewmembers, many of whom you’ll never hear about because they aren’t famous like the drivers.

NASCAR needs to display a countdown clock for Happy Hour and color-code cars that are on the track and off the track. Example: when the driver speed order is displayed on top of the TV screen drivers on the track put in green and the cars off the track put in red. — RJ

I think that’s great idea, RJ. I will pass it along.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor 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

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