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Burton's Fender Tug, Worthy of Penalty?

Okay, we all know that teams can't make fixes to their cars during red flag stoppage. On 'Inside the Nextel Cup' they showed the incident of Jeff Burton doing a very slight tug on his right front fender. He claimed that he was just putting the cover back over the car and that it was completely unfair that he got sent to the back of the lead lap. Believable? Is it possible that he just lost his balance and grabbed the fender to steady himself. See, I can buy that explanation. By all accounts it was a very weak and not one capable of doing much of anything. For that reason I want to believe him, but a rule is a rule.



Avatar05

It appeared to me that it was deliberate - TV showed it several times. It sure looked as if he was trying to pull it out or test how bad it was.

Img_5012

Jeff "I wanna be like Sterling" Burton

100_0768

I saw intent in his eyes. He was wishing that he had a crowbar to help with the operation.

  • Jana
  • 18:03:13 10-02-2007

1

His actions, no matter how fruitless, were not inocent by any means. His intent was to pull out the fender. And then to deny it over the radio! Jeff, that was dumb.

  • Peter
  • 19:23:44 10-02-2007

Me_and_88_avatar

Guilty as charged!

  • Max
  • 19:25:03 10-02-2007

1

Amen, Max. He got what he deserved.

  • Peter
  • 19:27:53 10-02-2007

Carl_aflac

Oh yeah, busted cold ...

  • Becky
  • 03:32:48 10-03-2007

Profile_5

GUILTY--but I loved the outrage afterwards. Who?? Me????

P1011474b

Yeah, he was definitely guilty and yeah...it was kind of funny to hear the mock outrage at having been caught. I say, if you are going to make a fender under red flag conditions, at least tug hard enough to do something worthy of the penalty you know you'll get.

  • Jason
  • 04:47:07 10-03-2007

Natenkate

That's a good point Jason. If you know that you may lose a lap because the damage it that bad why not go out there and take your time to fix the problem and just accept the penalty then race back with a fixed car.

Checkeredavatar

Sure weakened Jeff's credibility a bit in my eyes. What he did, while not terribly effective, was still fairly blatant. But his outrage afterward was compelling. Did he not realize he had been filmed? The next time I hear similar outrage from him I'll undoubtedly think of this incident and wonder...

  • Julie
  • 05:18:53 10-03-2007

1

You got it Julie. He's been my favorite driver for almost 9 years now, and I've never been this disapointed in him. He lost some Peter Points.

  • Peter
  • 06:07:42 10-03-2007

P1011474b

Are Peter Points redeemable? :) Don't be too hard on the guy. What's he supposed to say? It's almost shocking when the do own up to it. They touched on this very topic on 'Inside Nextel Cup' while listening to Junior explain what happened when he dumped Kyle Busch. Nobody on the show was buying what he was selling.

  • Jason
  • 07:59:49 10-03-2007