NASCAR drivers and television personalities flatly denied claims by Pardon the Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser that the sport “looked the other way” so Dale Earnhardt Jr. could win the pole at Daytona.
On Tuesday’s episode of Pardon the Interruption, Kornheiser said that Earnhardt Jr. winning the pole was a “great set-up moment,” and that he had spoken to a colleague who believed that there was “a 60% chance that Junior qualified with a car not quite up to code and people looked the other way.”
The comments were widely criticized, even by ESPN NASCAR analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree.
“It wouldn?t matter who said it or what network it might have been on, but it [ticks] me off that somebody thinks that,” Jarrett said at a previously scheduled Wednesday news conference, adding that it was “unfair to the competitors” and “unfortunate” that the sport’s integrity was being questioned.
Petree indicated that Kornheiser was uninformed on the issue, noting that “[w]e?re hearing opinions of people who really have no idea.”
The target of Kornheiser’s comment also responded Wednesday. Earnhardt Jr., who dropped from the pole to the back of the field after a practice crash Wednesday, said the comments did not “really bother” him. “Those two guys that do that show don?t know much about racing” (scenedaily.com, 2/16/11).
Kornheiser admitted as much on Wednesday’s PTI, while interviewing five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “I am getting crushed for yesterday floating the possibility that NASCAR wanted Jr. to win the pole. Can you explain to people that I know absolutely nothing about NASCAR? Back me up on that” (PTI, 2/16/11).
For his part, Johnson good-naturedly invited Kornheiser to come to a race so he could make “educated comments in the future” and to prevent him from “saying stupid things.”
(Transcript of ESPN Wednesday news conference from newsobserver.com; transcript of Tuesday PTI segment from The Daly Planet; Earnhardt Jr. quotes from scenedaily.com)
