NASCAR Cup Series

The power of logical deduction

Published Jul. 29, 2010 12:56 a.m. ET

Darrell Waltrip

I knew when I read that NASCAR had fined a couple drivers for making derogatory comments about the officiating but didn't release the names that it was going to open a can of worms. Now everyone will be speculating and trying to guess who it is and that will be the major storyline in NASCAR for the next little bit.

So I am saying why don’t we use the power of logical deduction and see if we have any possible candidates of whom the two drivers might be. Let me play devil’s advocate and pick a couple names out of the hat to see if they might be whom NASCAR targeted.

Well first off you had Denny Hamlin when he was at Michigan saying he knew a caution flag was going to come out. He said he knew that NASCAR would want to tighten up the field to give the fans a good race and a green-white-checkers. So he said he knew they were going to throw a caution for something.

That folks is a pretty good slam by a driver directed toward NASCAR. Please understand, it’s one thing to say you hope a caution wasn’t going to come out. It’s something completely different to tell everyone you knew a caution was going to come out.

So in theory, let’s assume he was the first one NASCAR picked to fine because of what he said and the way he said it. Could it be that NASCAR decided to get Denny’s attention?

So then you look around at whom the second driver might have been. Could it have been Ryan Newman? I really don’t know. What I do know is that he voiced his frustration a few weeks ago talking about the possibility of people getting hurt or even killed. He talked about hating a certain style of racing and even that we shouldn’t be racing at a certain track because he hated it so much. So again, let’s assume that Ryan is the other guy NASCAR fined for the comments he made.

Now I honestly don’t know anymore than you do. I am just using my power of logical deduction in this case. Over the last few weeks in all the things I have seen, read and heard, these were some comments that jumped to the head of the “Jaw Dropping” list. These were the comments that I couldn’t believe were said to the media.

Let me be clear, I am perfectly fine with NASCAR doing what it is doing. It’s in line with all the other major-league sports. In the other stick and ball sports, if you question the officiating or criticize the management of the sport, you will get fined. It’s not restricted only to the players. Owners as well as coaches have also been slapped with attention-getting fines in the other sports. Now it’s OK to have your own personal opinions but when you run to voice those opinions to the press, well then a line has been crossed.

It hurts the integrity of the sport. It causes fans to question the calls that are made on the field or at the track. Race fans, for example, are already suspicious enough about how races are run sometimes and the debris cautions. It doesn’t help the sport to have the competitors questioning the sanctioning body.

Let me put it another way. If I own a restaurant and I stand outside the front door and tell everyone that passes by not to eat here because the food is bad and the service is lousy, would you go inside? Of course not because it becomes a turn off for you.

That’s what NASCAR is faced with. When the guys the fans all look up to — the drivers — go to the media and say the things like a couple of these guys have said, then they are telling you fans not to invest your time and money in our sport.

Folks, we simply can’t have that. You have to have law and you have to have order. Trust me, ol’ DW has fought the wall and wall won. I’ve fought the law and the law won. At the end of the day, you have to respect authority. You have to show respect to the sanctioning body and the officials.

Now you don’t have to agree with them. You can still have your opinion. You have to find a way to voice it a different way instead of coming off being so critical of the sport that it hurts the integrity of the sport.

I hate that it has come to this for NASCAR. I hate that it’s happened to the drivers, whoever they may be. The bottom line for me is I certainly understand NASCAR doing it and I certainly agree with it.