NASCAR will investigate a post-race incident that resulted in both #9-Marcos Ambrose and #13-Casey Mears being punched, but Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s vice president of competition, said ‘we don’t think it was anything too severe.’ FOX caught the incident after Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The network’s video shows Ambrose and Mears talking to each other when Mears shoves Ambrose. Ambrose responds with a right cross to the left side of Mears’ head. Ambrose is pulled away while Mears pursues. Then Ambrose is sucker-punched by someone else. Pemberton said that series officials did not meet with either driver after the race. Series officials met with Ambrose’s crew chief, Drew Blickensderfer, and Sammy Johns, director of competition at Richard Petty Motorsports. Pemberton said officials watched footage of the incident. Pemberton said they would continue to investigate the situation. He was unaware of anything on the track that would have precipitated the confrontation. ‘We’ll get all the footage that we can and look at it and see what happens from there,’ Pemberton said. ‘We’ve got to take our time and do everything. Sometimes there’s things for us to look at that we don’t have available right now, so to make any kind of statement or call on it (at this point), we’d be wasting everybody’s time.’(Motor Racing Network)(4-27-2014)
UPDATE: Casey Mears didn’t let a punch keep him away from a race Sunday morning. The driver of the #13 Chevy was in Huntersville, NC for a 5K race put on by the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. It came not long after the checkered flag fell in Saturday night’s race at Richmond International Raceway. Mears finished 19th in that race, and left with a bruised left eye after a punch from fellow driver Marcos Ambrose. ‘He got me pretty good with that shot.’ Mears told NASCAR.com after completing his 5K run. Mears wore sunglasses for most of Sunday’s event, but it was clear the punch left a gnarly bruise and swollen left eye. Replays of the incident show Mears and Ambrose talking just after the race ended. The situation escalated when Mears forcefully shoved Ambrose. The driver of the #9 Ford then returned with a right hook to Mears’ face. On Sunday, Mears remained affable despite being on the wrong end of the punch. ‘One thing I can say is that out of all the NASCAR fights, when you see people swing it’s usually a lot of fly-swatting,’ Mears said. ‘He actually connected, so that was pretty good.’ Mears said the bad blood began on the track while the two were battling for position. He didn’t mention one specific incident, but conceded both drivers did things the other was not happy with.(NASCAR.com)(4-28-2014)
UPDATE 2 – NASCAR Penalizes Drivers Marcos Ambrose And Casey Mears: NASCAR has penalized drivers Marcos Ambrose and Casey Mears for their involvement in a post-race altercation in the garage area following last Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. Ambrose, driver of the #9 Ford, and Mears, driver of the #13 Chevy, were found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), and 12-4.9 (Behavioral Penalty; involved in an altercation in the garage area after the race) as outlined in the 2014 NASCAR rule book. As a result, Ambrose has been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until May 28, while Mears has been fined $15,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until May 28.(NASCAR)
UPDATE 3: Marcos Ambrose accepts the penalties levied by NASCAR after his actions at Richmond International Raceway. Ambrose will not appeal.(RPM)(4-29-2014)
