Warped Wednesday: Ryan Newman punished for Talladega comments
Welcome to Warped Wednesday. On this, we'll put out the rush to judgment mat, go a little too far and have a little fun. Will it be funny? Sometimes. Will it be crazy and largely unbelievable? Probably. Will not everyone get it? Definitely.
Ryan Newman has been fined $25,000 for his comments criticizing NASCAR’s decision to race late into the afternoon and evening at Talladega on Sunday.
Newman’s comments were out of frustration after he was involved in a crash that saw Kurt Busch’s car land on top of his.
"They can build safer race cars, they can build safer walls, but they can't get their heads out of their asses far enough to keep them on the race track, and that's pretty disappointing," he said after exiting the infield care center. "I wanted to make sure I get that point across, and y'all can figure out who 'they' is.”
NASCAR certainly figured out who the “they” was in Newman’s comments, and he was fined the same amount that Denny Hamlin was after he made his comments about the racing at Phoenix in the second Sprint Cup race of the season.
In a statement exclusive to Warped Wednesday, NASCAR said that the decision to fine Newman was an easy one because he slammed the people responsible for NASCAR’s race operations and those that design the heralded and incredible Generation-6 car.
“Questioning the integrity of the sport is something that we don’t take lightly,” the statement said. “While denigrating a fine piece of miraculous racing equipment is one thing, it’s not much better to question the judgment of the people who work to put on a safe and entertaining race for both fans and drivers. We acknowledge that Newman’s statements were made in a heated moment after a crash, however other leagues fine its participants for criticizing judgment calls.”
“In the light of our fine of Denny Hamlin, it allows us to show the fans that we’re consistent and don’t draw a fine line between criticism of machines and humans. Especially when those humans design said incredible sixth-generation cars like those that crashed on Sunday at Talladega.”
