Gordon fined $100K, docked 25 points by NASCAR

And Michael Waltrip Racing apologized for the actions of its crew members, which said they did not live up to the standards it has set for its race team but was sparked because the accident “brought raw emotions of a long and hard championship battle to the surface.”

Bowyer could have climbed back into the championship battle on Sunday, but Gordon’s actions instead dropped him to fourth in the standings and mathematically eliminated him from title contention.

Meanwhile, Keselowski was fined $25,000 and placed on probation for having an electronic device inside the car _ the phone he used to tweet during a red flag period caused by Gordon wrecking Bowyer.

Keselowski first tweeted during a red flag at the season-opening Daytona 500, and he was widely celebrated for his social media usage. He posted his view of the jet fuel fire that stopped the race for over two hours, answered questions and gave updates during the first prime-time Daytona 500 in history.

But NASCAR later told teams they could not have electronic devices in their cars, even though Keselowski has tweeted without penalty from Victory Lane at Bristol and from inside his car during a rain delay at Richmond since Daytona. It had some fans wondering Monday if he was really being penalized for a profanity-laced answer he gave during Sunday’s post-race news conference about the race.

Keselowski was upset about what he believed was a double standard from drivers who had been critical a week earlier of how aggressive he had raced Jimmie Johnson on a pair of restarts at Texas. He argued with colorful language that it didn’t come close to the Gordon-Bowyer incident on Sunday, or the last-lap crash that occurred because NASCAR failed to throw a caution despite oil on the track.

“It’s the double standard that I spent a whole week being bashed by a half-dozen drivers about racing hard at Texas and how I’m out of control and have a death wish,” he said. “These guys just tried to kill each other … they should be ashamed. It’s embarrassing.”

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