The North Carolina incident was about patch and myself going into and coming of turn 2 and we got together 3 times side to side after which Patch pitted and came off the apron into traffic. The following is from Lepage after I inquired about that penalty.Well, doing a secondary review in regards to this incident is a tough one.
Unlike your Daytona Sprint and North Carolina issues, which Skoty and I discussed again after you made it clear you didn't agree with the penalties (yes, without Reef, since he was nowhere to be found and also never bothered to look at the replays), it's much harder for us to look at this incident again and think differently.
I suppose it depends on what you're asking about: whether or not you did it or whether or not a lighter penalty should have been applied. I don't really know if the first point is particularly debatable. Both replays seem very clear to us. On the second point, we went as far as discussing suspensions, so I think we've already given you (and Patch, for a separate incident), a huge break in that regard. But we can discuss it again, just let us know specifically.
The penalty was for the actions of a car I had contact with a backstretch earlier? Late last week Patch says he had control in between incidents. So the penalty gets dropped. Now this week Lepage and Skoty concluded that I have a riff with Patch and try to intentionally wreck him. I went low and Patch went in too deep and I tried to out run him off the corner. We got together with me being at fault. That has been happening week after week by numerous drivers for the last few seasons around here. I have yet to see the differences between most of them. I see no way to get beyond the question of fairness. I believe this has turned into something more between Lepage and Skoty and myself as drivers and has spilled into the admins house of cards. There is always the NHRL appointed town crier who for years has squalled of conspiracy and denied slanderous allegations. But I say this for facts. Lepage takes the NBS points lead this week. The next 3 contenders all have penalties in which Lepage has had a hand in dealing out or had his opinion considered. All of Lepages long winded explanations cannot change them facts. It's suspect at the least.I didn't think you deserved a penalty when I initially saw your incident with Patch. From the cockpit view, it does look like he cuts down into you out of nowhere. The cockpit view alone, however, can be very misleading and it only presents one driver's perspective. If you look at the incident closely, from other angles, he doesn't really come down a ridiculous amount, at least nothing unusual for a driver in that portion of the track. From the chase and overhead views, you actually come up much more than he comes down. Since you were the faster, approaching car on fresher tires, had the advantage of seeing what was in front of you, and did not appear to lift at any point in the turn in order to preserve your speed, Skoty and I felt that you did not demonstrate much carefulness in this incident. Had you and Patch just bounced off of each other and nothing else happened, no penalty would have been in the mix. Unfortunately, your running hard into Patch resulted in some mayhem after he spun onto the apron and flew back onto the track, collecting a trio of victims. I don't know if you've actually seen the replay or not, but you probably didn't see any of that because it happens quite a bit after the incident, a chain reaction of sorts.
Reef being behind you during the race is certainly an interesting fact, but it's not an accurate or meaningful perspective for interpreting what happened after the fact. I'm sure the point that Patch was pitting and driving in an ambiguous lane adds fuel to your displeasure with him, as well as the fact that he foiled a bunch of other drivers' races with stupid pitting on laps 40 and 80, but if you look at the situation without these perceptions, the incident (in our opinion) has a lot more to do with you than it does with him.
I disagree with Lepages misguided definitions of "perspective" "fairness" and "Spirit of the rule". My conflicts with Lepage stop there though. He has managed to gather the best drivers out there and keep them herded in some shape or fashion. I have no beef with the rules either (except that stupid Daytona one). I just don't believe I have a fair shake anymore. I don't want to trash him but sometimes he is just plain wrong and doesn't see the tree thru the forest. I have tried dearly to be reasonable. I have my own set of standards and principles that I try my damnedest to live by and they have reached a deal breaker.
I've had some really terrific times with all of you. Racing hard and tough. Good and bad. Happy and sad. I'll miss all of you.
