Why is denny hamlin being fined

Since being fined in I have been a lot more careful about what I say to media and I felt this past weekend felt completely in my rights to give a assessment of the question asked. I said today I would not pay the fine.

I stand by that and will go through the process of appealing. Trust me, this is not about the money.. It's much deeper. I will now shift my focus on giving FedEx and my team what they deserve this weekend, a win. Hamlin tweeted earlier in the evening that the statement came with no assistance from his public relations department or that of Joe Gibbs Racing. Pemberton said there was no warning given to drivers about criticizing the car during preseason competition meetings.

That's where we won't tolerate those types of things. Hamlin was critical of the Gen-6 car and single-file racing at Phoenix a week after fans complained about the single-file racing in the Daytona The teams hadn't figured out how to get the aero balance right.

You would have placed me in 20th place with 30 [laps] to go, I would have stayed there -- I wouldn't have moved up. It's just one of those things where track position is everything. Pemberton, while not addressing the performance of the car of which Hamlin was critical, said NASCAR and Goodyear are looking at building tires that could improve performance.

It comes in whether the tire is a softer left and a harder right that may perform better or vice versa. So that is ongoing. This isn't the first time Hamlin has been fined for voicing his opinion. Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements was suspended indefinitely after the season opener at Daytona International Speedway for using a racial slur in the presence of an MTV reporter.

But as long as it relates to competition, I'm out from here on out. They lost one small spokesman today, that's all. Michael Waltrip Racing's Clint Bowyer , who also drives a Toyota, said that what happened to Hamlin would not impact what he says in the future. You guys included.

We've got to -- this is an important time for us. We've got a great thing going with this Gen-6 car. Anything is going to take time. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to pay the fine. If they suspend me, they suspend me. I don't care at this point. Let them deal with it. Whatever happened to fining drivers for big motors and illegal bodies and cheating on the track? The controversy comes as the new car faces its first litmus test, with its first race weekend at one of NASCAR's bread-and-butter 1.

By William Dale from Speed. Right now, you just run single-file and you cannot get around the guy in front of you. You would have placed me in 20th place with 30 laps to go, I would have stayed there — I wouldn't have moved up. It's just one of those things where track position is everything. Pemberton said Thursday drivers are given latitude with their comments about NASCAR, but said "you can't slam your racing, you can't slam your product" because it crosses a line.

NASCAR did not warn drivers about watching their comments before this season, but did so several years ago. Hamlin called himself a "pretty good spokesman" for the sport and had been positive in the past during negative situations. Facebook Twitter Email.