Bayne and Cobb fined after exiting crashed cars early
Trevor Bayne and Jennifer Jo Cobb will be supporting the NASCAR Foundation with fine payments from their actions at Dover.
Both drivers got out of their vehicles at inappropriate times following crashes over the weekend. Cobb was fined $5,000 while Bayne was fined $20,000.
We’ll start with Cobb, who walked on the track to raise her arms at Tyler Reddick during Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race. Cobb felt that Reddick, who eventually won the race, got into the back of her truck and helped cause her to crash as she was being lapped.
Bayne got out of his car before safety personnel arrived on Sunday and walked down the track. He was involved in a crash on the frontstretch with Michael Annett and Brian Scott.
Both drivers were placed on the ever-vague NASCAR probation until the end of the year.
It’s the first time drivers have been fined for getting out of cars after a crash during a race. A rule prohibiting drivers from getting out of their cars before safety workers arrive or confronting other drivers still on track and in the race was instituted in August after the dirt track accident involving Tony Stewart and Kevin Ward. Ward exited his sprint car to confront Stewart after a crash. Stewart struck Ward and killed him.
Drivers are allowed to get out of their cars if there is a safety issue necessitating their immediate exit.
Given the serious nature of the incident that led to the rule, we can’t help but wonder if the penalties should have been more severe to set a precedent, especially in the case of confronting another driver.
Granted, you can see that Cobb isn’t exceptionally close to Reddick’s truck in the video, but NASCAR clearly felt it needed to do something after the rule. The penalty – big to a team like Cobb’s that runs on a budget a fraction the size of, say, Kyle Busch Motorsports – doesn’t seem like it would be a massive deterrent to a driver exceptionally angry after a crash. We’ll see if the penalties increase the next time a driver exits his or her car before they should do so.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
