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TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- NASCAR denies it has different rules for different drivers. Other teams wondered if that was true Sunday, particularly after Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to get preferential treatment on his way to a win.
Earnhardt used a disputed pass to win the Aaron's 499, driving below the yellow line at Talladega Superspeedway with four laps to go to pass Matt Kenseth for the lead. He then pulled away to win his record fourth consecutive race at Talladega.
"He was clearly below the yellow line," said Jimmie Johnson, who was behind Earnhardt and Kenseth. "Anybody else who dances down there gets in trouble. From my vantage point, I didn't think it was a legal pass."
Driving below the yellow line to improve position is strictly prohibited at Talladega and Daytona, and the sanctioning body warned all drivers before the race Sunday that it would be watching closely for such moves.
Earlier in the race, Steve Park, Earnhardt's teammate, was black-flagged for driving below the line to make a pass. But in Earnhardt's case, NASCAR let the move go.
Before the race was even over, runner-up Kevin Harvick's team radioed NASCAR and demanded a review of the call. NASCAR did, and spokesman Jim Hunter said officials reviewed it again after the race and stood by their call not to black-flag Earnhardt.
"There is not a shadow of a doubt he was below the yellow line," Hunter said. "However, in our judgment, he had already improved his position and was past [Kenseth] when he went down there."
Earnhardt acknowledged going below the line, but he agreed with NASCAR that he had already passed Kenseth.
"I can honestly say if I did anything wrong, I would be the first driver to admit it," he said. "I know in my heart of hearts I did not go below the line to improve position."
Elliott Sadler, who was right behind Earnhardt, believed Earnhardt had to go below the yellow line to avoid hitting Kenseth.
"I was the one pushing him, and they ran him down," Sadler said. "He had to do that or cause a big wreck, so it was a smart move."
Winston Cup director John Darby said NASCAR spent as much time looking at whether or not Kenseth pushed Earnhardt below the line as they did examining the pass.
"The Earnhardt move was a no-brainer call," Darby said.
The rest of the garage saw it differently, and numerous crew chiefs were lined up outside the NASCAR hauler looking for an explanation on the rule.
All of them wondered why Earnhardt was not penalized the same way other drivers have been: Most recently, Sterling Marlin was black-flagged during the Daytona 500 when he went below the line to avoid running into a slower car.
"I guarantee you if my driver went an inch below the line, he would have been black-flagged," said Todd Berrier, Harvick's crew chief. "The rule is below the yellow line, it doesn't matter if it's two tires or four tires. An inch below the line is illegal, and he was way more than an inch under it, and a lot more than [Park] was earlier in the race when he got called for it."
It's the second time in a week that NASCAR has been questioned for calls it has made. A week ago at Texas, it disallowed Jeff Gordon's pass of Kenseth under caution when Kenseth slowed to let lapped cars by him. Gordon objected, passed Kenseth to take the lead, and NASCAR sent him back into second place.
Days later, NASCAR president Mike Helton acknowledged that the call was wrong, and drivers were again told that the sanctioning body made a mistake in Sunday morning's pre-race meeting.
Kenseth, who was involved in both controversies, wanted nothing to do with the Earnhardt pass.
"I don't want to say anything, because it will just cause me trouble," he said. "Obviously there was no penalty, so it must have been legal in their eyes. So I'm going to mind my own business and go home and be happy with ninth place."
Harvick took the same attitude, saying he didn't see the pass and that his crew didn't tell him about it until after the race. But he said it would have been a difficult call for NASCAR to penalize Earnhardt -- an overwhelming crowd favorite -- and take the victory away from him.
"I wouldn't want to be in the middle of it," Harvick said.
As a driver, Harvick said it's often difficult to understand all of NASCAR's rules and how they are applied.
"I don't think you can ever have a full grasp on the rules, their differences and the different situations," he said.
Earnhardt used a disputed pass to win the Aaron's 499, driving below the yellow line at Talladega Superspeedway with four laps to go to pass Matt Kenseth for the lead. He then pulled away to win his record fourth consecutive race at Talladega.
"He was clearly below the yellow line," said Jimmie Johnson, who was behind Earnhardt and Kenseth. "Anybody else who dances down there gets in trouble. From my vantage point, I didn't think it was a legal pass."
Driving below the yellow line to improve position is strictly prohibited at Talladega and Daytona, and the sanctioning body warned all drivers before the race Sunday that it would be watching closely for such moves.
Earlier in the race, Steve Park, Earnhardt's teammate, was black-flagged for driving below the line to make a pass. But in Earnhardt's case, NASCAR let the move go.
Before the race was even over, runner-up Kevin Harvick's team radioed NASCAR and demanded a review of the call. NASCAR did, and spokesman Jim Hunter said officials reviewed it again after the race and stood by their call not to black-flag Earnhardt.
"There is not a shadow of a doubt he was below the yellow line," Hunter said. "However, in our judgment, he had already improved his position and was past [Kenseth] when he went down there."
Earnhardt acknowledged going below the line, but he agreed with NASCAR that he had already passed Kenseth.
"I can honestly say if I did anything wrong, I would be the first driver to admit it," he said. "I know in my heart of hearts I did not go below the line to improve position."
Elliott Sadler, who was right behind Earnhardt, believed Earnhardt had to go below the yellow line to avoid hitting Kenseth.
"I was the one pushing him, and they ran him down," Sadler said. "He had to do that or cause a big wreck, so it was a smart move."
Winston Cup director John Darby said NASCAR spent as much time looking at whether or not Kenseth pushed Earnhardt below the line as they did examining the pass.
"The Earnhardt move was a no-brainer call," Darby said.
The rest of the garage saw it differently, and numerous crew chiefs were lined up outside the NASCAR hauler looking for an explanation on the rule.
All of them wondered why Earnhardt was not penalized the same way other drivers have been: Most recently, Sterling Marlin was black-flagged during the Daytona 500 when he went below the line to avoid running into a slower car.
"I guarantee you if my driver went an inch below the line, he would have been black-flagged," said Todd Berrier, Harvick's crew chief. "The rule is below the yellow line, it doesn't matter if it's two tires or four tires. An inch below the line is illegal, and he was way more than an inch under it, and a lot more than [Park] was earlier in the race when he got called for it."
It's the second time in a week that NASCAR has been questioned for calls it has made. A week ago at Texas, it disallowed Jeff Gordon's pass of Kenseth under caution when Kenseth slowed to let lapped cars by him. Gordon objected, passed Kenseth to take the lead, and NASCAR sent him back into second place.
Days later, NASCAR president Mike Helton acknowledged that the call was wrong, and drivers were again told that the sanctioning body made a mistake in Sunday morning's pre-race meeting.
Kenseth, who was involved in both controversies, wanted nothing to do with the Earnhardt pass.
"I don't want to say anything, because it will just cause me trouble," he said. "Obviously there was no penalty, so it must have been legal in their eyes. So I'm going to mind my own business and go home and be happy with ninth place."
Harvick took the same attitude, saying he didn't see the pass and that his crew didn't tell him about it until after the race. But he said it would have been a difficult call for NASCAR to penalize Earnhardt -- an overwhelming crowd favorite -- and take the victory away from him.
"I wouldn't want to be in the middle of it," Harvick said.
As a driver, Harvick said it's often difficult to understand all of NASCAR's rules and how they are applied.
"I don't think you can ever have a full grasp on the rules, their differences and the different situations," he said.
