I am pleased to announce the winner of the Rogue Best E-mail Contest for the month of March and that is Mr. Jeff H pictured to the left. His question about Robbie Gordon was answered by the #7 Team PR themselves and he yielded 28.5 % of the votes counted. Congratulations Jeff!  What a great prize we have for you!  

Jeff has won an all expense paid trip to the Leigh Valley Grand Prix where he will receive a One Year membership to the race track, a free T-shirt and head sock for under the helmet and free first race on the track. This prize has a $30 value! Membership includes a free race on your Birthday, reduced rates for future racing at the track and entitles you to become part of the LVGP racing club. They have racing leagues and a new one starts April 29th. JNFL Racing League anyone?

Also included in this prize package is a $10 Sunoco Fuel Card from the Colmar Sunoco to help him along in his trip. That's a $40 prize just for asking a question folks!  Check this place out ! - http://www.lehighvalleygrandprix.com/home.htm

Thanks to Daniel, Matt K, and Judd for their entries as well. They were all great and it was a pleasure to get them. This contest has been a lot of fun so far. Keep tryin'!

This question is not because I did not take Carl for the race, because the way NASCAR is going, all of the JNFL members will get penalty points at one time or another this season…. Cough…Cough…DAN MENGEL. But now I have to tell my 7 year old that she is no longer in 6th place, but more like 15th place, because Carl Edwards is a cheating ass.

Rogue Response… Awesome question Matt and thanks for asking it. I am sure many other team owners have the same question. Here goes…

Since the beginning of NASCAR there has only really been one time that a win was taken away. That was the first Daytona 500 in 1959 when the win was reviewed several days later and NASCAR awarded the win to Lee Petty and took it from Johnny Beauchamp after reviewing photo’s and newsreel footage. Fans were outraged. While this event helped to keep NASCAR in the newspapers for weeks, it left fans that paid to see the race, with a salty taste in their mouth. Many of them protested weeks later at several track dates by not showing up. So it’s a business thing really.

Thus, NASCAR has had an unspoken philosophy ever since then that they won't take away the win after the fans leave the track. In this case they sent a message by taking away the 10 bonus points for the win should he make the Chase. This not only hurts now but also could hurt Edwards in the Chase. Recall that Kurt Busch won the 2004 title by eight points (this was before the 10-point bonus plan). Imagine losing a title for an infraction done several months earlier. Last year, Jimmie Johnson was fourth in overall points after the Richmond fall race but he led the points entering the Chase because he had the most wins (six) at the time and that gave him 60 bonus points.

So, you can see how critical those points are. NASCAR is telling owners and teams that they better not fool around with these cars or they will pay the price and it will be heavy. One of the biggest fines ever given out by NASCAR was 100,000 dollars until the change for Robby Gordon’s infraction penalty when the board gave Gordon his points back on appeal but bumped up the fine to 150,000 for his crew chief.

Lesson: You will pay one-way or the other.

As far as the record books are concerned the win is still Edwards and the record will always reflect that. Also as we learned several years ago when I asked Herb Brendanham, NASCAR’s Communication Representative at the time, why they didn’t take the points away from the race total that is posted. I was told in an e-mail response from him, that they don’t take away the win after the race day was complete nor do they go back and change the points total from the official results of the race. If they failed post race inspection, the ruling isn’t handed down for several days until all the facts can be gathered and the officials get together and decide the penalty. Therefore, they only take the points from their overall standings.

While this is great for NASCAR, the JNFL had some problems and questions with this. How are we in the JNFL going to show the point deduction? Take it from the race total or from the team owners overall points total that picked the driver in question. In this case it is Carl Edwards. It was decide by the league that we would take the points from the driver picked for scoring and record purposes and entered it in to the JNFL Rules several years ago now. Ironically, I had picked the driver who lost points that time as well. It stinks, trust me I know but that’s racing. Hope that helps explain it for you Matt.

As far as how to explain it all to your seven year old, I would say this… Honey, it will be ok. Carl had something wrong with his car and they aren’t sure yet if the penalty will stay but you still get credit for the win and it is early enough in the season to come back from this. Plus, if NASCAR finds that the team didn’t do this on purpose he will get his points back maybe. We don’t know yet honey.

NASCAR goes by the thought of guilty until proven innocent. It is not fair but that’s how they do it honey. Now run along and send an e-mail to Mike Helton and Brian France explaining you disgust with the whole thing. I will let you know what happens.

(LOL…figuring kids these days know how to use the computer at that age and can type better than me…lol)

Hope it helps and tell the little one we are sorry but rules is rules. Oh and by the way, they haven’t proven that Edwards cheated yet. Several other teams have had the same problem since Daytona and their penalties were overturned on appeal by the board. They are a busy bunch. We shall see. Look for the appeal.

The next entry is from Daniel in the JNFL Kids League.

Daniel decided to try his hand at writing an article about Hendrick and Dale Jr. Here is his article titled " Does Hendrick play Favorites?"

Nice write up Daniel...Thanks!!

                                     Does Hendricks play favorites?

Acquiring Dale Earnhardt Jr. in exchange for Kyle Busch last year was the most publicized trade in NASCAR within the last 5 years. No matter how much fans wanted to see Jr. remain at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, he just didn’t want to stay. The best fit for Jr. would end up being Hendricks. Some believe he went to Hendricks in search of a championship, and rightfully so. Now Kyle Busch on the other hand, hated as he is, cannot be said to be a bad driver. He is aggressive and sometimes does not make the right decisions on track but fans cannot deny that he is a good driver. All in all, it was not a bad trade for Hendricks, or for Jr. Earnhardt went from mediocre equipment to the best in NASCAR. Could it be better than his teammates?

I do believe that Hendricks brought Earnhardt to his team in order to win championships, but for him it was more of an investment. He already has two of the best drivers in Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon on his team. The publicity is what Hendricks was after. The number of fans that Dale brings with him is just ridiculous, not to even mention the amount of money from merchandise that Hendricks will receive. Hendricks saw the opportunity and snatched it up. Earnhardt, in my opinion, is simply getting the same equipment that Kyle Busch would have this year if he was still at Hendricks. Of course Hendrick wants to see Jr. win the championship from a business perspective, but he is not going to cheat his other drivers out of better equipment. NASCAR has stooped to a new low, but Hendrick hasn’t. He doesn’t need to.       “If you ain’t first, your last.”  Ricky Booby  aka Daniel

Rogue's Response... Nice article Daniel. While I agree with most of what you wrote, I disagree with the statement that Hendricks did this for publicity. While it helped him in that department, the reason I believe he approched JR is because he knew that he wasnt happy with what was going on at DEI and that Rick knew he could give Dale what he needed to help him become a champion. Plus the fact that if he added Dale Jr to his stable he would have the best shot at repeating the championship with all of his drivers looking to win it. It was a win win situation for both of them. As for the question possed in your article, I have sent an e-mail to Hendricks PR person asking if it is difficult for Mr Hendricks to remain impartial as a multi-team owner with three of the best NASCAR racers going. How does the team work together as a whole to achieve this every week? Nice Job on the article Daniel. I will post all responses I get from the e-mail questions to the PR folks.