Keselowski fined $50,000, Stewart fined $25,000 for roles in Charlotte incident

Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart were each fined for their parts in the fracas after Saturday night’s race at Charlotte.

Keselowski was fined $50,000 and placed on four weeks probation while Stewart was fined $25,000 and also placed on probation for four races. Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin were not penalized for their roles in the incidents.

“These penalties are about maintaining a safe environment following the race,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president, competition and racing development, said in a statement. “We knew that the new Chase format was likely going to raise the intensity level and we want our drivers to continue to be themselves. However, the safety of our drivers, crew members, officials, and workers is paramount and we will react when that safety could be compromised.”

Both Keselowski and Stewart were assessed penalties under Section 12.1: actions detrimental to stock car racing and Section 12-4.9: Behavioral penalty — involved in post-race incidents in the NASCAR rule book. Given the two drivers penalized and the two drivers not penalized, it’s reasonable to assume the penalities are related to what drivers did with their cars, not what happened when they were outside of them.

Keselowski was followed by Hamlin into the garage after the race. When the two cars were in garage stalls and stopped, Keselowski fired his car back up and drove away from Hamlin. The two cars then parked behind the row of Sprint Cup Series haulers and Hamlin had to be restrained from going after Keselowski.

Keselowski ran into Kenseth on pit road after the race, a move he said was in retaliation for Kenseth running into him as he took the wave-around during the race. Kenseth and Keselowski first tangled with 63 laps to go when Keselowski blocked a Kenseth move to the outside following a restart and Kenseth hit the wall.

Kenseth, who said he had taken his HANS device off and unbuckled his seat belts before he was hit by Keselowski, went after Keselowski in the garage after Keselowski had exited his car. During the cool-down lap, Hamlin also brake-checked Keselowski and Keselowski attempted to spin him.

Stewart was penalized for backing into Keselowski’s car on pit road. After he saw Keselowski hit Kenseth and Keselowski’s car bumped into his, he threw his car into reverse and crumpled Keselowski’s hood.