“We’re going to do whatever we need to do, whether it’s to park a guy for a week or park a guy for nine weeks. We’re going to do whatever we need to do to prevent retaliation on the racetrack,” Hunter said Sunday after the race.

Hunter said Thursday it is understandable that some people are critical of NASCAR’s decision not to suspend the drivers.

“We’re always in a position of doing what we think is right,” he said. “What I talked about Sunday was we were going to do whatever we felt necessary to keep things under control, and we chose not to include, suspensions this past weekend.”

It would not be unprecedented.

Jimmy Spencer was the last driver suspended, forced to sit out one race in 2003 for punching Kurt Busch after the two were in an accident at Michigan. Kevin Harvick was suspended for one race in 2002 when NASCAR did not allow him to compete in a Cup race at Martinsville, Va., as punishment for aggressive driving in a truck race the day before.

Hunter reiterated that NASCAR officials are no longer in a forgiving mood after the recent outbreak of on-track retaliation.

“I think we have always tried to let the athletes work this out among themselves, with us sort of getting in the middle and mediating, and I think suspensions for what happened this past weekend, it was discussed and we felt that the points and the fines were enough at that point,” Hunter explained.

“But,” he added, “we’ve always said that if the fines and the penalties don’t work, we’ll keep ratcheting it up. And, of course, a vacation is a possibility.”