NASCAR will study film of the post-race fight involving Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and a host of crew members, but according to Robin Pemberton, the sanctioning body’s senior vice president of competition and racing development, NASCAR has no issue with the incident that caused it.
“I think it was hard racing, and this is a contact sport,” Pemberton said of Keselowski’s up-the-middle attempt pass on the next-to-last restart, a move that left Gordon with a cut tire and diminished championship chances.
“You look at what drivers are trying to do. We had a couple shots at a green-white-checkered finish, and everybody was going for it. Nobody was leaving anything behind.”
The brawl itself is a different story. NASCAR will review the incident in its entirety and decide if penalties are warranted. Keselowski already is on probation from post-race actions three weeks ago at Charlotte.
“We knew the (new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup) format was going to put a lot of pressure on people to perform and make aggressive moves and decisions out there on the race track,” Pemberton said. “You could see the result of that after the race.
“We’re going to take our time. We’ve got a lot of film to review and things like that. The important thing is to make the right decision at the end of the day.”
Pemberton says NASCAR draws the line when drivers and crew members come to blows.
“You shouldn’t punch somebody,” he said. “Everybody gets together, and when you’re holding onto each other and grabbing and this, that and the other, that’s one thing. When punches are landed, that’s a different scenario…
“We have a lot of work to do this week.”
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