Chiefs to Act on 'Revenge' Incidents

NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter confirmed that they will consider suspensions after several drivers retaliated on track during the race.

Robby Gordon threw his helmet at Michael Waltrip after the former Champ Car racer accused Waltrip of putting him into the wall, and Kasey Kahne drove his battered Dodge into Kyle Busch under caution following a similar incident.

Hunter said he was particularly concerned about the accidents, which occurred during caution periods, where safety works are usually present on track.

"You're going to see some pretty stiff penalties coming out of this," Hunter said.
"NASCAR President Mike Helton said we are going to do whatever we need to whether it's park a guy a week or nine weeks. We will do whatever we need to do."

Gordon could face extra trouble for swearing in a television interview afterwards. He, along with Waltrip and Kahne, were summoned to NASCAR stewards after the race.

Gordon was understandably critical of Waltrip: "Everyone thinks Michael is a good guy. He is not the good guy like he acts like he is. The caution was out, and he wrecked me. I just passed Michael down in the middle of one and two."

Waltrip said that the accident was Gordon's fault. The DEI driver said: "I went into the corner and I was running up high, and Gordon just tried to bounce me off the groove. The next thing was the marbles and the wall for me, I just stood my ground. I have never had any problem with him."

Kahne was parked-up by NASCAR after his incident, which was largely irrelevant because his car was so badly damaged. Kahne, despite justifying his actions during a live television interview, later backed down.

"I just drove up in front of him and stopped. He run into me, it didn't really hurt his car, but it was the wrong thing to do," said Kahne. "You feel like you get crashed, you want retaliation, but that is not the way it works in NASCAR. Definitely the wrong thing to do."

Busch however, isn't expecting any further punishment for the reigning rookie of the year.

"I wasn't expecting NASCAR's poster child to do that. He probably won't even get a fine or anything like that," Busch said. "I figured he was going to do something, I should have been smarter than that pulling on the outside."