Cheating allowed in NASCAR

This Times-Dispatch article talks about how furious the other NASCAR Nextel Cup teams are over the fact that the 1st and 2nd place Dover finishers of Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch were not penalized for having cars that were too high after the race last Sunday. Either the cars were too high, or they were not.

A frustrated Dale Jarrett facetiously suggested the crews of Johnson and Busch were "allowed to jump up and down on their cars until they [passed]."

"I didn't realize they had a 24-hour period they could wait for these damn things to settle down," he said. "Yeah, I'm fired up about this. My wife and kids have heard this all week, so now you have to hear it."

Rusty Wallace, who is seven points behind Johnson in second, said if his car had been a quarter-inch high, "I'd have a 25-point problem and I'd have a $25,000 fine.

"The Hendrick guys are great friends of mine, and I don't wish them any problems," Wallace said. "But rules are rules, and they came through high. All I know is, if they'd have been penalized, I'd be leading this championship."

Fact: Cheating is allowed in NASCAR when it suits them. And the fact that cheaters get all their money back at the end of the year in prize money makes the penalties handed down all that more laughable. With shenanigans like this it's easy to believe the Conspiracy theories that certain teams get "The Call" when NASCAR needs a big headline.