news-record.com

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says NASCAR officials don't need to be stricter with penalties for aggressive driving.

Earnhardt made his comments Tuesday, a day after NASCAR officials said they might start calling penalties more closely for blocking and aggressive driving, particularly at Talladega and Daytona.

"I would advise against doing anything extra or being stricter," Earnhardt said. "You run the risk of taking the race out of the drivers' hands. I think we do a good job of policing it pretty much on our own now. I mean, it is a race."

Series officials suggested they might need to make more judgment calls after a Talladega race that featured a 14-car crash early and ended with Carl Edwards' car flying into the catchfence. Seven fans were injured from that incident. Earnhardt says any kind of reaction by officials would be an overreaction.

"I don't think there's &ellipses; (anything) from that wreck that really stands out to me as, 'Wow, we've got to make a change here or something needs to be done,' other than the car getting off the ground and people getting hurt.' As far as the wreck itself, trying to avoid it from happening, I don't see how you can."

SPECIAL WIN: Overshadowed by the finish of Sunday's race was car owner James Finch's win. An independent owner with about 25 employees, Finch's teams are not normally looked upon as those that will challenge for wins. His last victory in NASCAR came in a Nationwide race at Milwaukee in 2005.

One of the first things Finch did in the winner's press conference was dedicate the win to the family of Neil Bonnett. Finch noted that Bonnett was killed in 1994 at Daytona while driving one of Finch's cars.

FUTURE RIDE: Talladega winner Brad Keselowski was asked who he will be driving for next season.

"I don't know where I'm at to be honest," said Keselowski, who drives for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Nationwide series and also has a deal with Hendrick Motorsports to run some Cup events. "I don't have a ride secured for next year."

Asked about Keselowski, Earnhardt said: "I'd like Brad to drive my Nationwide car again if he wants to. But as far as like what he does in his Cup stuff, that's with Rick (Hendrick). It's my understanding that that's particularly not any of my business up until they're ready to share that information. Whatever Rick wants to do with Brad, it's up to him on the Cup side."

NATIONWIDE RACE: The Nationwide series races at Friday at Richmond. David Ragan won last weekend's race at Talladega.

Kyle Busch enters as the series leader with a 62-point advantage on Carl Edwards. Ragan is third in the standings, 80 points behind Busch. Both Busch and Edwards are among the 49 drivers entered. Ragan is not.

JOURNALIST DIES: David Poole, the host of "The Morning Drive'' on Sirius Satellite Radio and a NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer since 1997, died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 50. Poole was a four-time winner of the George Cunningham Award, the top writing honor with the National Motorsports Press Association. He won the award in January. For more on Poole, go to thatsracin.com.

PIT STOPS: Forty-five cars are entered for Saturday's Cup race at Richmond. ... Hendrick Motorsports has won three of the last four Cup races at Richmond.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com