CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — In the NASCAR-themed “Days of Thunder” movie, there is a scene where the Big John character modeled after series founder Bill France Sr. threatens a pair of feuding drivers.
Tired of the on-track antics between drivers loosely based on Dale Earnhardt and a combination of Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond, Big John warns of the consequences to come if they don't stop wrecking each other.
“You trade paint one more time, you so much as touch, I’m gonna black flag the two of you,” Big John says in the movie, “and take apart your race cars for 300 laps. Then, if you pass inspection and you put your cars back together, I might let you back into the race.”
There was some truth in that scene in that NASCAR, its inspectors, race control officials and executives are in charge and can interpret the rules as they see fit. It has played out over and over since NASCAR was formed by the France family in 1948 — a car has trouble passing inspection for some sort of infraction or the same team finds that it has been “randomly selected” for a thorough teardown week after week.
Should 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports be worried?
After all, the two teams just filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR alleging “anti-competitive terms” in the charter agreement reached last month. The lawsuit is going to be a topic for the rest of the season, which is now well into the playoffs and includes six more races.
23XI is owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, who actively drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. The team fields cars for Bubba Wallace and regular-season Cup Series champion Tyler Reddick. Hamlin and Reddick are both racing for the Cup Series title.
Front Row does not have any drivers in the playoffs, but that doesn't mean that Bob Jenkins' cars won't be subjected to intense scrutiny starting Friday when the garage opens for inspection at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hamlin, who has already been dealt one severe penalty this season, said he is hopeful there is no retribution by NASCAR toward him, the cars he owns, his teammates at JGR or the Front Row drivers.
“I have enough faith in them that they're going to be professionals,” Hamlin said. "They can separate Denny the driver that's on the racetrack on Sunday from Denny that's the owner on Monday through Friday. Certainly, there's been things in the past that have been conspiracy theories, but you can't get into that stuff.
“Certainly, they'll respect myself and my (JGR) team because right now the most important thing to me is trying to run for this championship over the next six weeks.”
Talladega is a tricky track with strict rules designed for safety purposes that can be arbitrarily applied. For example, a yellow line circles the Alabama superspeedway and drivers are prohibited from using it to gain position or to force another driver below the line to preserve position.
It is the officials in the NASCAR scoring tower who rule on yellow line violations and it was never more scrutinized than in 2008 when Tony Stewart was declared the winner at Talladega even though Regan Smith beat him to the finish line. Smith had gone below the yellow line to edge ahead of Stewart, who had clearly forced Smith beyond track limits with a blocking maneuver.
Smith believed he was robbed by NASCAR's ruling.
“I always got told that the rule is, if you get forced down there, then you're the winner of the race and on the last lap, anything goes,” Smith said that day. “I got forced down there.”
Just one year earlier in a Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Johnny Benson went below the yellow line in a three-wide finish. NASCAR said at the time that Benson’s move was legal because the rule had wiggle room: if a driver can see the checkered flag waving, then essentially anything goes over the final push to the finish line.
Come this Sunday, if Hamlin or Reddick or any of the drivers whose teams are involved in litigation against NASCAR find themselves near the yellow line, who knows how the ruling might go?
23XI and Front Row have hired Jeffrey Kessler, a top antitrust attorney to represent them. He said he was not concerned.
“My experience is that having a lot of cases against sports leagues, sports organizations, is that their lawyers advise them, ‘Do not mess around with the other side because that’s the worst thing you can do' when I call on them in court,” Kessler said. "We don't usually see players face retribution, we don't see our other plaintiffs face retribution, and I would be surprised if it happens here. But if it happens, we certainly know what to do about it.”
Hamlin heads to Talladega ranked fifth in the playoff standings. Reddick, his driver at 23XI and the spring winner in Alabama, is ninth and could be eliminated from the playoffs if he doesn’t move into the top eight after next week’s elimination race in Charlotte.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan stands in the pit area during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Talladega. Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
Christopher Bell (20), Kyle Busch (8), William Byron (24), Tyler Reddick (45), Joey Logano (22) and Ryan Blaney (12) head down the front straightaway after a caution flag during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
Denny Hamlin (11) leads Chase Briscoe (14) and Christopher Bell (20) during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut has killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
The strike came as Israel was pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said eight soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Here is the latest:
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Thursday that it killed a senior Hamas leader in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip around three months ago.
It said that a strike on an underground compound in northern Gaza killed Rawhi Mushtaha and two other Hamas commanders, Sameh Siraj and Sameh Oudeh.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The military said the three commanders had taken refuge in a fortified underground compound in northern Gaza that served as a command and control center.
It said Mushtaha was a close associate of Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of Hamas who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war.
Sinwar is believed to be alive and in hiding inside Gaza.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — The British government chartered more flights to help U.K. nationals leave Lebanon, a day after an evacuation flight left Beirut.
The government said in a statement that the flights will continue as “long as the security situation allows” and that it’s working to increase capacity on commercial flights for British nationals.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey on Wednesday visited a British military base on Cyprus where around 700 troops, Foreign Office staff and Border Force officers have been deployed to a British military base in Cyprus to help with evacuation plans.
British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under the age of 18 are eligible. Dependents who aren’t British nationals will need a valid visa granting a maximum six-month stay in the U.K.
BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut killed seven health and rescue workers, an Islamic health organization said.
The airstrike in the residential Bashoura district targeted an apartment in a multi-story building that houses an office of the Health Society, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah.
It was the closest strike to the central downtown district of Beirut, where the United Nations and government offices are located.
It was the second airstrike to hit central Beirut this week and the second to directly target the Health Society in 24 hours. No Israeli warning was issued to the area before it was hit. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in central Beirut or the allegations it used phorphorous bombs.
Israel has mostly concentrated its airstrikes in south and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence, but its attacks have spanned the entire country and killed many civilians.
Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw heavy bombardment overnight in areas where the Israeli army had earlier issued a warning online for residents to evacuate.
TOKYO — Japan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon.
Two C-2 transport aircraft are expected to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Friday, Japan NHK national television reported.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that there has been no report of injury involving the about 50 Japanese nationals in Lebanon.
Japan dispatched SDF aircraft in October and November 2023 to evacuate more than 100 Japanese and South Korean citizens from Israel.
SYDNEY — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday her government had booked 500 seats on commercial aircraft for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families to leave Lebanon on Saturday.
The seats are available to 1,700 Australians and their families known to be in Lebanon on two flights from Beirut to Cyprus, Wong said.
“What I would say to Australians who wish to leave, please take whatever option is available to you,” Wong told reporters in Geelong, Australia.
“Please do not wait for your preferred route,” she added.
A Hezbollah paramedic walks between debris after an airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese women stand in front an apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A destroyed apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah paramedics walk between debris after an airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman reacts in front an apartment in a multistory building hit by Israeli airstrike, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
This image from United Nations Television, shows Israel Ambassador Danny Danon during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (UNTV via AP)
Soldiers carry the coffin of Israeli Army Capt. Eitan Yitzhak Oster, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
An Israeli Apache helicopter releases flares near the Israeli-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Police stand guard at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Workers clean at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
People collecting remains of victims after an airstrike that hit an apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter stands in front of an apartment hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
