After weeks of skirting the rules, Nascar finally came down hard on the Nascar on Fox race team, immediately disqualifying the car following a failed pre-race inspection.
"We try to give our teams a certain amount of 'gray areas' to work with, but what the Nascar on Fox team has done is way over the line", said Nascar President Mike Helton. "We value our media partners, and have no issue with them participating in races, but they have to follow the rules--even if they're robots."
The Nascar rulebook (rumored to have been seen by up to seven people) does not explicitly prohibit robots--such as Nascar on Fox driver Cleatus--from participating in races. However, several details in the robot's design did disqualify him/it from future competition.
"We allow our drivers to have a spotter on top of the race-track, but they can only communicate with the car through radio", Helton explained. "We do NOT allow our drivers to be allowed to have messages appear in front of their visors, like 'GO LOW'--that has to be communicated verbally".
The Nascar on Fox race team was unavailable for immediate comment, but did issue the following press release:
"We at Nascar on Fox are proud of our race team, Cleatus, and the fact that we're the only car on the track with a sponsor besides Jeff Gordon. We've tried to bring some robot-based excitement to the sport, and if we've gone over the line as far as the rulebook, we're willing to accept any penalties Nascar issues. We just hope that our fans, specifically that one girl with the aviator sunglasses, will understand that we never aimed to knowingly break the rules."
Helton claimed that the team would be allowed to return to the track next week, as long as they can pass through pre-race inspection.
"As long as Cleatus has his Nascar license, we more than welcome the Nascar on Fox team back to the track. However, we'll be watching to make sure that the car doesn't turn into a gigantic logo again--we're thinking that's what shorted out the lights on the backstretch."