I don't really follow NASCAR, but I did happen to catch Dale Jr. on the news yesterday. Dale uttered the s-word during his post race interview, which got him slapped with a $10,000 fine and a 25-point reduction in the points race. The point deduction, reports the Washington Post, moves Earnhardt from 1st place to 2nd place with just 7 races left.

While I am not personally offended, I can understand the monetary fine. With the FCC fining TV stations, and Major League athletes routinely being fined for their behavior on the ball field, $10,000 sounds reasonable. But you would never see officials taking points off the scoreboard. This could end up changing the outcome of the points race.

Reacting to the fine, Earnhardt took a more realistic view of America: "If anybody was offended by the four-letter word I said . . . I can't imagine why they would have tuned into the race in the first place."