With the current system, wins will always stand

DOVER, Del. -- As the considerable dust finally began to settle from the Clint Bowyer controversy Friday at Dover International Speedway, another topic presented itself as a spinoff subject.

Bowyer, as the entire NASCAR world now knows, won last Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but later was slapped with a 150-point penalty because one side of his No. 33 Chevrolet was ruled too high. His boss, Richard Childress, also was docked 150 owner points while crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney each were suspended six weeks. Wilson also was fined $150,000.

Talk of Dover

• Bowyer defiant about penalty
• Childress defends his team
• Hamlin saw penalty coming
• Staying within the box

But guess what? Bowyer's victory stood.

It should be noted that Bowyer and Childress are appealing all the fines, penalties and suspensions. But even if they are denied in their appeal, Bowyer's win is not jeopardy.

That's just the way it is in NASCAR's modern era.

"Sunday night in our sport, they want to know who the winner is," said Robbie Loomis, executive director of race operations for Richard Petty Motorsports. "I think when you look at golf and other sports, the policing of the rules is more easily applied through every hole or the game. The other sports move slower. I think that's one reason in our sport -- especially with the [Research and Development Center] taking cars back [to Concord, N.C., after the race] -- they don't want to cloud with confusion as to who the winner was.

"If you go out there and you're willing to take the risk, there is a chance you can beat all the competition. It's still very hard to beat everyone else, no matter how small or big an advantage is -- unless you go to Talladega and get away with a huge horsepower advantage like [Jimmy] Spencer did years ago. It's still hard to run a 400-mile race or a 500-mile race and beat all the competition, no matter what area a crew chief might decide to try to give you an edge on. So I think for our sport, they just want to make it clear for our fans who the winner is when they go home Sunday night."

Team owner and former driver Michael Waltrip suggested earlier this week that perhaps NASCAR should start taking away wins as well as points in cases where severe penalties are levied. On Friday at Dover, Loomis and others weighed in on that possibility.

"In my opinion, taking points away, you might as well take the win away," Jeff Gordon said. "But this is what we know goes on in our sport and that's just the way they do it. Do I agree with it or disagree with it? Gosh, I really don't know. I would have to think about it a little more.

"Like I said, in my opinion, they've already taken the win away. I'm sure if you ask Clint, he would probably say they might as well [take it away] because the penalty certainly is very extreme. I don't know. It seems to me like there at least should be an asterisk next to the win."

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Actually, a defiant Bowyer later seemed like he would not be so inclined to give up credit for the victory. And even one of Bowyer's most vocal critics, points leader Denny Hamlin, said he understood the process.

"Based on the precedence that NASCAR has set, I understand that they get to keep the win, they get to keep the trophy and all of that," Hamlin said. "But, for sure, if you would've asked that team probably whether they would give up the trophy and all of that and what not -- the 'W' -- for those points and the money back I'm sure that they would say yes."

And for all the seemingly non-stop chatter in NASCAR about it always being about who wins, Loomis insisted, well, that isn't quite true.

"The bottom line is you race for the points. That's what it's all about. If you told me I could win however many races, but not get the points, I wouldn't take it," Loomis said.

"Now what I'd like to see happen with this Chase is something created where when some of these guys eliminated from the Chase, they get thrown back in the big picture of points. So Bowyer right now would be making himself vulnerable to the guys who are 14th, 15th or 16th in points. And so a guy like Kasey [Kahne] could finish ahead of him with strong runs over the final nine races of the season.

"Instead, those 12 guys are locked in and the rest of us are just here. Really, we're just getting in the way of their championship race."

Related:
• Bowyer defiant, says 33 team did nothing wrong
• Caraviello: NASCAR's warnings are issued for a reason
• Bowyer loses 150 points, crew chief in penalty