NASCAR should refund Tony Stewart’s fine

The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season has been nuts so far. Loose wheels, which happen when all the lug nuts on the wheel aren’t tight, have been a major topic this season. NASCAR owner-driver Tony Stewart recently made headlines when he commented on the subject and was fined for doing so.

Loose wheels and lug nuts are being discussed so much this season since there have been multiple races where several teams have had loose wheels. Teams are putting only three or four lug nuts on the wheels and not tightening them all which causes the loose wheel. Last year, NASCAR stopped mandating that the wheels have five lug nuts and teams are only putting three or four to save time in the pits. Stewart said last Wednesday that this could have huge safety consequences.

“I guarantee you that envelope is going to keep getting pushed until somebody gets hurt,” Stewart said, according to the Charlotte Observer. "With all the crap we’re going through with the safety stuff, and for (NASCAR) to sit there and sit on their hands on this one, it’s not a game you play with safety. That’s exactly the way I feel NASCAR is treating this. This is not the way to do this.And you will not have heard a rant that’s going to be as bad as what comes out of my mouth if a driver gets hurt because of a loose wheel that hurts one of them.”

Stewart isn’t the only driver who has voiced their concern about this issue. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that the policy freaks him out and he can’t believe that NASCAR stopped monitoring lug nuts. Greg Biffle also echoed Stewart's concerns.  NASCAR fined Stewart $35,000 after it determined that his comments disparaged the sport and NASCAR’s leadership. However, Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle weren’t fined for their comments on the lug nut policy.

I was surprised that Stewart got fined and wondered why. NASCAR chairman Brain France later explained the reasoning for the penalty on Sirius XM Speedway.

“I think we have to make judgment calls and how we look at the tone of what someone says, how they’re saying it,’’ France said, according to NBC Sports. “They have ample opportunities, particularly with safety, to deal with us directly on that. But to insinuate that we’re taking the sport down a road that doesn’t care about safety or we’re trying to hurt people, those kind of comments, that goes to the integrity of the sport and we’ll have to deal with that. We go way beyond what any other league would allow in terms of how far people can go in voicing their view.”

NASCAR should not have fined Stewart for his comments. His comments were his opinion and he didn’t question the integrity of the sport or the sport's commitment to safety.

In a statement to NBC Sports the Sprint Cup Drivers Council supported Stewart, didn’t agree with the fine and agreed to pay the fine.

Stewart’s fine highlights a huge issue in NASCAR. By fining him for the comments NASCAR is saying that drivers can’t speak their minds or voice their opinion. NASCAR drivers are often labeled as “vanilla” and have become corporate robots who just thank their sponsors and don’t voice their opinion. NASCAR should let drivers speak their minds instead of fining them for doing so.

On Monday, NASCAR changed its rules regarding lug nuts and will now require wheels to have five lug nuts on them and they must be installed in a safe and secure manner at all times during the event, according to NASCAR.com. Teams will be penalized for violating the rules.

As USA Today noted, NASCAR declined to rescind Stewart’s $35,000 fine despite changing the rules. NASCAR should have rescinded the fine because it showed that it agreed with Stewart by changing the rule. Furthermore, NASCAR needs to apologize to Stewart and give him his $35,000 back because he shouldn’t have been fined in the first place and fining a driver every time they voice their opinion isn’t good for the sport.