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"Mike Helton and NASCAR have announced the ramifications and penalties for the drivers and team involved in Sunday&amp;#039;s race at Richmond, where an allegedly intentional spin caused a great deal of hand-wringing. Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) was fined $300,000 (the largest fine yet levied), general manager Ty Norris of Brian Vickers #55 team was suspended indefinitely, all MWR crew chiefs were put on probation, and all three drivers were docked 50 championship points.  Given the severity of the actions to manipulate The Chase, this all seems fair. According to Helton, &amp;quot;NASCAR has always taken very serious its responsibility to maintain for the most part its credibility.&amp;quot;  A closer look reveals that, perhaps, the penalties aren&amp;#039;t as equal as NASCAR is claiming. A bit like the debacle that began the Vettel/Weber feud in Formula 1, this all involves teams making plays in what should be an individual sport. The dreaded notion of &amp;quot;team orders&amp;quot; has made its way to NASCAR. But before gauging the punishment, let&amp;#039;s look at what happened.  First, there was the mystery spin by driver Clint Bowyer that lead to a lead change, which took Ryan Newman out of contention for the Chase. Bowyer maintains it was an accident; if you saw it, it is pretty clear it wasn&amp;#039;t. Then, to block Jeff Gordon from The Chase, Brian Vickers was told by his crew chief to pit. This action gave Joey Logano an important position and put MWR driver Martin Truex, Jr. into the wild card instead of Gordon.  But both teams were punished right? Equal fines and so on?   Well no, not really. Here&amp;#039;s why. Brian Vickers, who pitted in under team orders to put Truex Jr. into the Wild Card, was not himself in contention for The Chase. Granted, fines always hurt, but 50 championship points and his crew chief getting the boot won&amp;#039;t really alter his season. Clint Bowyer, who did spin, was fined as well, and docked points, but it did not affect his Chase berth. He is still shown in 10th place. Remember that he was an active, not passive, participant. Finally, Martin Truex Jr., the only non-participant in the actions on Sunday, was fined, and lost his Chase berth because of the point deduction. Ryan Newman gained the 12th place Wild Card spot.  The only driver who didn&amp;#039;t do anything (albeit the driver who benefitted from the whole situation) lost the most. The apparent inequity of &amp;quot;equal punishment&amp;quot; hasn&amp;#039;t gone unnoticed, and Jeff Gordon, one of the drivers primarily affected, took to Twitter to share his displeasure and support for (of all people) Truex Jr..    Feel bad for Truex. He got in under controversy now out due to it. But the guy who started all of this not effected at all??? Don&amp;amp;#39;t agree! \u2014 Jeff Gordon (@JeffGordonWeb) September 10, 2013   While Gordon and others have been quick to point out Bowyer&amp;#039;s continued presence in the Chase as a miscarriage of justice, the equality of punishment may have been necessary as the personal motivations for any driver is difficult to prove. It is simpler to punish all equally.  Infractions like intentional spins aren&amp;#039;t new to NASCAR. In fact, golden-boy Dale Jr. was the last to have such fines levied against him ($100,000 and 25 points in 2004); however, Dale openly admitted he spun to stay on the lead lap. Although MWR didn&amp;#039;t dispute the pit-in by Vickers, they haven&amp;#039;t owned up to the spin by Bowyer (and likely won&amp;#039;t) and because of that, they dodge a bullet as their best driver stays in Chase contention.  While the mantra in NASCAR has always been some modification of &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s our job to cheat, and their&amp;#039;s to catch us,&amp;quot; let&amp;#039;s hope this isn&amp;#039;t a start of the same kind of team meddling that has plagued other motorsports. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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