4 Nextel Cup Crew Chiefs Suspended By NASCAR

   This is not a good thing for NASCAR to have to put up with! I guess that the high stakes money that is involved with winning is clouding some of the partakers judgements. It is going to hurt these teams and the drivers with the points being deducted before the season has even started.

NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In what could be called the most severe set of sanctions ever delivered by NASCAR in one day, four Nextel Cup crew chiefs were suspended and their teams were fined a total of $150,000, 150 driver points and 150 car owner points Tuesday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

Evernham Motorsports took the biggest hit as its lead car, the No. 9 Dodge of driver Kasey Kahne, lost its team director, Kenny Francis, for four races beginning with Sunday's Daytona 500; Kahne was docked 50 driver points and owner Ray Evernham 50 owner points.

Kahne's teammates, Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Dodge) and Scott Riggs (No. 10 Dodge) lost their team directors, Josh Browne and Rodney Childers, respectively, for two races apiece; Sadler and Riggs will lose 25 driver points each and owners Evernham (19) and James Rocco (10) 25 owner points following the Daytona 500.

Roush Racing's No. 17 Ford team for driver Matt Kenseth was hit with an equivalent penalty as Kahne's -- with both infractions involving "air improperly ducted into the car," according to NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton.

Kenseth's crew chief Robbie Reiser will serve a four-race suspension and he was assessed a $50,000 fine. Kenseth will lose 50 driver points and owner Jack Roush 50 owner points.

 

Technorati tags: Nextel Cup, Crew Chiefs, Drivers, NASCAR

 

News In The Eve

   From Raleigh,NC. an ex-CIA contractor got 8 1/2 years  prison time for beating  a detainee from Afghanistan who died later.

AP

David Passaro, 40, was accused of hitting Abdul Wali with a flashlight and kicking him in the groin during a two-day interrogation at a remote military base in
Afghanistan in July 2003. Wali died within 48 hours of the interrogation, after complaining of abdominal pain and an inability to urinate.

Passaro was the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. He was found guilty last year of assault and could have gotten 11 1/2 years in prison.

   The U.S. District Judge that sentenced Passaro (Terrence Boyle) said that not having an autopsy performed on the body probably saved Passaro from a murder charge.

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Al-Jazeera

North Korea has agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60 days as the first step to dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.
The agreement was announced in Beijing after days of intensive negotiations involving envoys from North and South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the US.

Under the plan, North Korea is to begin shutting down its nuclear programme in return for supplies of energy and other forms of aid.
International inspectors are to be allowed to return to North Korea to verify the process.

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Al-Jazeera

An American engineer working for Qatar's state-owned energy company has been sentenced to life in prison for spying, a Doha-based newspaper has said.

The 51-year-old American was convicted last week after being arrested in a police sting operation in 2005, the Gulf Times said on Monday, citing court sources.

Court testimony claimed the man, a senior engineer who worked for 10 years at Doha-based Qatar Petroleum, was attempting to sell sensitive information about a Qatari government natural gas project to a foreign embassy.

 

Technorati tags: CIA, Contractor, North Korea, Qatar, Engineer