NASCAR NOTEBOOK

updated 6:36 p.m. ET Sept. 25, 2005

DOVER, Del. - NASCAR president Mike Helton, dissatisfied with recent driver conduct, said offenders could be seriously punished for violations in Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway.

“We have reached a point where enough is enough,” he said at the prerace driver’s meeting. “What that means is that if we see things continue in the direction we’ve seen the past two or three weeks, then we will continue to ramp up our reaction to be more severe than what we issued on Monday.”

His words were heeded, and there were virtually no complaints, a rarity for a Dover race.

NASCAR was particularly upset with actions both on and off the track a week earlier at New Hampshire International Speedway. Those actions led to fines and points reductions for drivers Robby Gordon, Michael Waltrip and Kasey Kahne.

Helton said NASCAR would not hesitate to use its Emergency action rule.

The rule:

“If the act or omission of a member is determined by a NASCAR official or supervisory official to constitute a threat to the orderly conduct of the event, that NASCAR official may take temporary emergency action against the member. Such emergency action may include ejection from the racing premises, suspension of membership and license, or any other action designed to remove the threat created by the member.”

Helton said drivers usually are left to police themselves, but have not been doing as well recently. He also cautioned the crew chiefs.

“You need to keep your drivers under control,” he said.

Helton said he regretted that his warning was even necessary.

“We wouldn’t even have to have this conversation if everyone would just take a deep breath and step back and realize this all starts with respect on the race track, or up and down pit road,” he said. “We’re not asking you not to be angry. We’re not asking you not to be frustrated. That’s part of this sport and we realize that.

“What we’re asking you for is to understand that, keep it in check and put on a race and put on a show that everybody in NASCAR expects and in the grandstands.”

NASCAR also warned drivers about patience prior to the Busch Series race on Saturday, but it didn’t prevent some anxious driving in the first few laps of the event, when there was a 14-car pileup. A few laps after the green waved there was another multicar accident, and nearly half the field of 43 was off the track and under repair just 20 laps in to the event.

Rusty Wallace Day
In a prerace ceremony, the track honored three-time Dover winner Rusty Wallace. The 1989 Cup series champion is retiring after this season. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner declared Sunday “Rusty Wallace Day” in Delaware.

Wallace joked about being tardy reaching the podium for the gift presentations and declarations.

“Sorry I was late,” he said. “Usually these things don’t start on time, but this one did.”

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

He finished third in his final Dover appearance and moved to second place, just seven points behind series leader Jimmie Johnson. He won the fall race here in 1993 and swept the 1994 events. Only David Pearson and Jeff Gordon also have won three straight races on The Monster Mile.

Wallace is second to Gordon among active drivers and eighth overall on the career victories list with 55, but is winless in 56 races since taking the spring event last year at Martinsville Speedway.

Pit stops
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well at the beginning and moved to second place, but brake failure forced him to pit on the 21st lap, and he finished 31st, seven laps down. “The only thing worse than a bad finish is a bad finish with a fast race car,” he said. Jeff Gordon’s crew had to make a few tries before get his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet made it through inspection. Then the four-time series champion and four-time Dover winner wrecked on lap 292 and wound up 37th. ... Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Mike Bliss had to fall to the end of the field because they went to backup cars. Mike Wallace joined them because of a transmission change. ... The grand marshal was Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. She also will be the voice of wiz kid Chip Kelly on the new NASCAR.com animated series “The Kellys.” Using that voice, she gave the command to start the engines. ... Warner Brothers recording artist Shannon Brown sang the national anthem before four F-16s from the D.C. National Guard from Andrews Air Force Base performed a flyover for the crowd of 140,000.

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