Auto Racing Insider Pete Pistone Posted Sunday, November 1, 2009
There was a fuss made at Talladega this weekend that NASCAR made A.J. Allmendinger take a breathalyzer test on Friday when he arrived at the race track.
The decision was obviously in the aftermath of Allmendinger's DUI charge earlier this week outside Mooresville, North Carolina.
Why anyone would have a problem with NASCAR administering the test puzzles me.
Allmendinger made a mistake plain and simple and I applaud him for standing up to it. He took full responsibility for his actions and was placed on probation until the end of the year by NASCAR.
Richard Petty Motorsports also fined Allmendinger $10,000, which was donated to charity, and placed him on probation until the end of the 2010 season.
And NASCAR was perfectly within its right, given the heightened drug and substance abuse policy the sanctioning body put into effect this year, to test Almendinger before allowing him to compete in a race car.
Yet some think that was overboard. And still others believe NASCAR should have pulled Allmendinger completely from the weekend's competition.
I'm satisfied with how the situation was handled by all parties. While other sports, particularly the NFL, has ramped up its punishment policies for players' behavior off the playing field, in this case NASCAR's justice system was on target.
I don't have any tolerance for people behind the wheel while under the influence of anything stronger than Mountain Dew. Thankfully Allmendinger's situation wasn't compounded by a tragedy.
Like it or not, race car drivers under the influence of any substance any time they are driving - on the street or on the track - sends a horrible message and perception to the outside world. I heard several sports talk radio hosts around the country talking about the irony of the NASCAR driver who blew a .08.
NASCAR can't afford that kind of bad publicity at a critical time in the sport's recent PR battle which erupted last week in the wake of the Kyle Petty, Larry McReynolds and Jimmy Spencer comments.
But while Allmendinger was treated fairly in my observation this time around, a second offense should be dealt with in a much stronger manner.
Which I hope doesn't happen.
There isn't an answer in the world to stop the kind of madness we saw Sunday at Talladega. Every step NASCAR tries to take to make things safer and less crazy seems to result in the exact opposite happening. We saw more carnage Sunday, more scary-looking incidents and a single file parade by drivers for most of the race in response to the no bump-drafting in the corners rule that was mandated before the race, A lot smarter people than yours truly have tried to figure out what to do. I am at a complete loss.
On top of all the week's controversy and the subsequent madness of the race that will certainly grab all the headlines this coming week, Jimmie Johnson winds up cruising further ahead in the point standings. Rather than getting pinned back in the field and having the Chase tighten up, Sunday's last lap fireworks knocked out Mark Martin and all but handed the title to Johnson.
There were a lot of different scenarios for a variety of teams already looking ahead to 2010 at work on Sunday. And while Jamie McMurray appears all but headed to the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No. 1 ride next year, getting into the win column had to be a shot in the arm for not only the driver but the entire Roush Fenway Racing 26 team including crew chief Donnie Wingo, who doesn't know what the future holds just yet.
Pete Pistone is the Senior Editor of RacingOne. Pistone is also the co-host of "The Morning Drive," which airs Monday through Friday from 7-11 a.m. ET on Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128. He also hosts the syndicated "SpeedJournal Report," heard on 100 radio stations nationwide and Pistone is a sports reporter/anchor for Chicago's WGN Radio and also hosts weekly auto racing segments on the station. Pistone serves as the national motorsports writer for CBS Sports.com.
