helio gets slammed!!

[penske15]

i am at a loss as most of you must be too. h.c.n. was black flagged and had a win stripped from him by none other than brian barnhardt for ...OF ALL THINGS...racing his teammate. today...it was hard to be a fan of a series where things like this happen. of course...it wasn't much different in formula 1 either....the leader(massa) was ordered to pull over and let his teammate win because he has a better position in the championship.
i guess it will wear off but it makes me feel really friggin stupid to cheer for open wheel ANYWHERE when it's run like nascar. just my opinion.

[00steven]

I thought it surprising Helio would do that to A team-mate but it shouldn't have resulted in a loss of a win. The only thing that makes it good for me is that Scott Dixon won!

[Hoss Ghoul]

Why insult NASCAR? It's run far more reasonably!

[anthonyvop]

i am at a loss as most of you must be too. h.c.n. was black flagged and had a win stripped from him by none other than brian barnhardt for ...OF ALL THINGS...racing his teammate. today...it was hard to be a fan of a series where things like this happen. of course...it wasn't much different in formula 1 either....the leader(massa) was ordered to pull over and let his teammate win because he has a better position in the championship.
i guess it will wear off but it makes me feel really friggin stupid to cheer for open wheel ANYWHERE when it's run like nascar. just my opinion.

What happened in F-1 is nothing out of the ordinary. Team orders have always been a part of F-1 as any fan should know.

What happened today with the IRL was just another step in their quest to be more NASCAR like.

[Lousada]

What happened in F-1 is nothing out of the ordinary. Team orders have always been a part of F-1 as any fan should know.

Except that team-orders were banned a few years ago. Even though I don't see the logic in the ban, it's still cheating to use team-orders.

What happened today with the IRL was just another step in their quest to be more NASCAR like.

I'm afraid of that yes

[SUBARUTEAM]

having seen the tape and report on indycar.com, it is very clear to me that according to the rules - it was a block. Will Power also admitted that it was a block.

good call by the IRL - fair win by dixon

[beachgirl]

And what would everyone be saying if it had been Will throwing that block on Helio, or say Dario throwing that block on Helio, or Scott throwing that block on Will? Or Will throwing that block on Dario? Just wondering.

Helio's gotten away with that stuff for years and years. Karma can really bite.

His temper tamtrum was magnificent, though, and that should cost him in the pocketbook. Want to stomp away from everyone across the grass? Fine - looks like a prima donna, but he was really enraged, so it's ok. Go after officials? Push them around, literally? Grab collars? Definitely not ok. It would be interesting to see how much it will cost him within the Penske organization, too, although I doubt we would ever find out. Roger doesn't tolerate that kind of behavior.

[Spiderman]

After today, i really understand Ferraris Teamorder. Comparing to Dario Will Power lost 17 points today because of Helio.
He could have fnished first with Dario fourth and now finished second with Dario third. That's ridiculous (quoting Alonso...)

[Mark in Oshawa]

I keep trying to figure out how this makes the IRL more NASCAR like. NASCAR has never taken a win away save for one bad call they made at Sonoma years ago to Ricky Rudd and it was a blantant dump and run. Carl Edwards kept his win last week in the NW race and he damn near wrecked the entire field with his spinning Kez out so I fail to see how making this call makes the IRL more NASCAR like.

This is an F1 style call..pure and simple. The stage management of the f1 guys of climbing in the cockpit post race and judging actions....not NASCAR.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Brian Barnhart applied the rules correctly. According to the rules, it was a block, according to the rules, it was a drive through penalty and according to standard FIA procedure, it was converted into a 20 second time penalty.

There are two problems. First, we can only assume these are the rules, because the Rule Book is not public. That's just ridiculous in this day and age.

Second, the blocking rule is idiotic as it is. A driver should be able to chose between the inside and the outside lane. If he changes that, yes, that's blocking. But to prescribe that he has to take the outside lane? It's outrageous. If that is really the case, then it is not racing anymore, it is a parade because you don't give a fair chance to the defending driver to race his opponent.

How F1 or NASCAR comes into this, is beyond me.