Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to NASCAR penalties for race manipulation, how to stop it

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Tuesday's " Dale Jr. Download " that race manipulation "starts up at the top" with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and it's incumbent upon to figure out a way to deter it from happening moving forward.

"I talked last week about how I thought the best route moving forward to deter this was suspend the drivers for a week even though the drivers were really just doing what they were told or doing what they knew they had to do," Earnhardt said. "... The drivers didn't have a choice. While I don't love what they did, they really didn't have a choice because if they had drove around [William] Byron, I mean if you're driving for another organization, what's Rick Hendrick gonna do if you pass his car?

"He'd be pissed off, he'd probably call you and tell you that you're dumb for making that decision. But now the OEM or the manufacturer if you kick out their Chevy car and you're driving a Chevy, they're gonna be upset with you, your organization and your team. What that means, I don't really know tangibly.

Dale Earnhardt Jr: 'We gotta figure out where do you fix this problem?'

"But that's where it starts — up at the top. Even if the manufacturers didn't give them direct orders, there's this perception that they [the drivers] know they need to do a certain thing on the racetrack. ... I can understand one teammate protecting another. But when it becomes like almost series wide where it's all of one manufacturer posturing for each other and helping each other, we gotta figure out where do you fix this problem? Where in the latter?

"It's not the drivers. Even though I think that would have been the deterrent to park them for a week, that might have been the deterrent to the overall problem which is the pressure from the top which is the manufacturer. I wonder if you get the manufacturer in the room and NASCAR says, 'Guys, what are we doing? Y'all got to quit this.' I wonder if that's going to be enough."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. offers possible solution to deter race manipulation

Earnhardt's comments come in the aftermath of NASCAR penalizing three teams for participating in race manipulation in the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville. Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace were levied a penalty of a loss of 50 driver points and a $100,000 fine.

In addition, NASCAR fined the owners of each team $100,000 and deducted 50 owner points each. The sanctioning body further suspended crew chiefs Phil Surgen [Chastain], Justin Alexander [Dillon] and Bootie Barker [Wallace], along with their respective spotters Brandon McReynolds, Brandon Benesch and Freddie Kraft, for the Cup Series championship race at Phoenix.

COO Steve O'Donnell said last Friday that the actions of multiple teams, OEMs and drivers at Martinsville "pissed" him off. O'Donnell added that future punishments could include drivers.

Earnhardt believes that might be the answer, even if it may be a bit unfair to the drivers themselves.

"I wasn't trying to get the drivers' attention," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "I wasn't trying to get the owners' attention there with that idea of sitting the driver out for a week. It was what can really get the manufacturer to go, 'Woah, we don't want that.' And that might be the only thing, right. It sucks for the driver because he's just doing what he thinks he's supposed to do. But I don't think just asking the manufacturer to stop [is going to work]."