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August 26, 2005
Crew Chief gets escorted from Bristol - screws team
Reed Sorenson, running for Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series, lost his crew chief today to stupidity.
Brian Pattie, pictured to the left with Reed Sorenson, was escorted from Bristol Motor Speedway, along with team tire specialist Brandon Stafford, for altering the tires that a NASCAR official noticed a crew member rubbing something on the tires. Big no-no.
Penalties will be coming and I'm sure the fines will be hefty. The worst part of the whole thing is that Reed Sorenson has to suffer for something his crew chief did or told someone to do. Sorenson will have to start at the tail end of the field and will not be allowed to qualify at all. The team was also forced to buy all new tires.
My biggest question is why? I mean I know you want to try and give your driver an edge and help him, but why do something like this that can be detrimental to the team? The team and Sorenson are the ones that have to suffer for this and it's just not fair. I mean you have a driver that's third in points, is running for Rookie of the Year and now he'll probably lose points because of this, how Pattie thought this would help him is beyond me.
Hopefully, Sorenson can still somehow pull off a good finish and concentrate on the race instead of what happened earlier today.
Picture credit - Autostock and Nascar.com
August 26, 2005 in NASCAR Busch Series | Permalink
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Comments
It seems that just fining and suspending the crew chief is like pleading your drunk driving citation down to an "inattentive driving" ticket. If NASCAR is as angry as they seem to be, the owner and driver points will certainly get docked. They might even look into the manufacturer's points on this one just because they want to show zero tolerance.
Meanwhile, My question is: What were they rubbing on the tires that made NASCAR so mad? You know that nature was already coating the tires with a hardening compound (known as H2-O), so was this something more than tire dressing. I've always heard about teams trying to use helium in their tires and I've always been suspcious of the guys that spend so much time gluing nuts to the wheels that they would be tempted to harden the outside of these super-soft Goodyears to help last a couple more laps.
Posted by: Buddynoel | Aug 28, 2005 9:17:48 AM
Marc,
Remember back when Harvicks crew chief made the boneheaded move to Harvicks car he was docked 25 points even though he had nothing to do with it.
Posted by: Jon | Aug 26, 2005 10:22:49 PM
Yes Don, very stupid.
I hope you're right Marc, that Reed won't be docked points. I understand your point about them not thinking they'd get caught, but they were obviously doing something within an officials sight. I think Ganassi should fire Pattie and just have Elledge be crew chief for the rest of the year.
Posted by: Kathy | Aug 26, 2005 7:53:04 PM
Cheating is one thing, being plain STUPID is another, not saying they should cheat, but getting around the rules, and doing something that stupid is well just STUPID
Posted by: DonB | Aug 26, 2005 7:37:44 PM
"but why do something like this that can be detrimental to the team?"
Because those that do these things do it with the mindset they can't possibly be caught. Simple really, why does a guy rob a bank? He doesn't go into the bank thinking the cops are waiting around the corner.
Bet: Reed won't be docked any points but crew chief will be fined and suspended and there will be a loss of owners points.
Posted by: Marc | Aug 26, 2005 7:10:58 PM
Brian Pattie is just as stupid as Kevin Harvicks crew chief that ytied to pull a fast one and got caught. This will screw Reed for sure and cost him points in the race and more than likely he will be docked 25 points.
Posted by: Jon | Aug 26, 2005 6:45:01 PM
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