Dale Earnhardt Jr. was not critical of the $20,000 fine given to Carl Edwards for ramming him after the Busch Series race last week at Michigan, but he said a fine like that won’t do much to dissuade a driver who is making millions. “I felt like years ago we should have been stepping the fines up into the $100,000-$200,000 range,” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday. “Nothing against Carl or the situation, but $10-, $15-, or $20-grand [penalties] don’t mean anything to these guys, myself included.” NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said that Earnhardt Jr.’s view of the fine “is a personal observation and he’s welcome to it,” and that it was a harsher penalty than had been handed down in the past. Pemberton said NASCAR did consider “a lot of different scenarios” for penalties but decided against a point penalty. “We have not taken points away for a penalty like that as of yet, and historically, I think, the fine has been quite a bit less than that, right around the $5,000 range,” Pemberton said Friday. “He is on probation through the end of the year. We figured $20,000 has been a substantial increase over what has been done in the Busch Series in the past.”(SceneDaily.com)(8-25-2006)
