Especially if you drive a red car and your name is Earnhardt, some say.
By JOANNE KORTH
Published July 3, 2003
The conspiracy theory formed even before Dale Earnhardt Jr. peeled off his beer-soaked racing suit.
Earnhardt won a record fourth consecutive race at Talladega Superspeedway in April, but in taking the lead with three laps to go, he dipped the left tires of his No. 8 Chevrolet below the yellow out-of-bounds line ringing the inside of the track.
Fans gasped.
NASCAR officials conferred.
Since 2001, NASCAR has enforced a rule prohibiting drivers from using the apron to advance their positions at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt clearly went below the line. But NASCAR deemed Earnhardt's move legal, saying he executed the pass of Matt Kenseth before going below the line.
The victory sparked a wild celebration among the many red-clad Junior fans who packed the Talladega stands. The ruling sparked a controversy: Does NASCAR play favorites?
"That's always the easy thing to say, but there's none of that," veteran driver Dale Jarrett said. "NASCAR's job is to make sure these cars are as equal as they possibly can be. Whenever it's time for them to make a call, it doesn't make a difference what number, what color of car it is or who the driver may be. ... They're not trying to ensure who is going to win these races."
The yellow-line rule has been controversial since it went into effect two years ago, beginning with the 2001 Pepsi 400. The penalty for crossing the line is a black flag, a mandatory stop-and-go visit to pit road.
Tony Stewart put the rule to the test right away in 2001, arguing with NASCAR officials that there were extenuating circumstances for his journey below the line late in that race.
Of course, Stewart lost. So did Jimmie Johnson last year and so did Sterling Marlin in February.
Johnson was penalized during a 125-mile qualifying race at Daytona in 2002, though he claims he was forced below the line by another car. The rule has since been modified to prohibit drivers from using the line as a blocking tool, but Johnson does not intend to push his luck again.
"All it takes is being penalized once and you realize that you don't need to be down there and put NASCAR in the position of making a decision," Johnson said. "If I'm forced down there, I'll roll out of the gas and get back in line as soon as I can. It's not worth it."
Marlin was black-flagged in the 2003 Daytona 500 though the veteran claimed he went below the line to avoid hitting another car. NASCAR had no sympathy. The yellow-line rule seemed cut and dried - until three months ago.
"I thought Sterling was forced out, and then there are some other guys who drive under it and nothing is said about it," veteran Kyle Petty said. "That is where the controversy of the rule is talked about. But (NASCAR) is there to make tough decisions. Whether you agree with them or not, it's a lot easier to judge the decision after it is made than to make it to begin with."
Footage of Earnhardt's pass shows he was at least even with Kenseth's No. 17 Ford when Earnhardt went low. Kenseth veered down from the top of the track, but too late to stop Earnhardt.
"I know in my heart that I didn't go below the line to go around him," Earnhardt said shortly after the race. "I was clearly up on the racetrack when I passed him and went onto the apron in the corner to keep from running into him."
Kenseth did not protest.
Though Jeremy Mayfield and other drivers suggested during postrace interviews that NASCAR was lenient, the majority seem to agree with NASCAR's ruling.
"He ducked underneath the line when Kenseth came down on him, not to pass but in order to give Kenseth enough room," veteran Ken Schrader said. "There wasn't anything to that, nothing Kenseth could have done at that point to stop the pass. You can't go down there to improve your position. That's the rule, and I don't believe Junior went below the line to do so."
But the rule remains open to interpretation. And some will always choose to believe that NASCAR uses the gray areas in its rule book to benefit the sport's biggest stars.
"Because we're basically a bunch of circus clowns running around the race track?" Johnson said, laughing. "I don't know. Everybody is entitled to have an opinion. There is always going to be controversy. That's what makes the world go round."
