Castroneves penalized for post-race outburst at Edmonton

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/02/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The IZOD IndyCar Series on Tuesday handed driver Helio Castroneves a $60,000 fine and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season following his post-race altercation with officials last month in Edmonton, Canada.

Castroneves was penalized for refusing to follow the direction of race officials and unsportsmanlike conduct when he engaged in a heated altercation with two officials on pit lane after the conclusion of the race.

IndyCar officials met with Castroneves on Sunday in Indianapolis to discuss his actions.

Castroneves was leading the race at Edmonton when he was issued a black flag for blocking his Team Penske teammate Will Power just after a restart with three laps remaining. He failed to take the drive-through pit-lane penalty.

At the conclusion of the race, Castroneves was penalized 20 seconds and placed at the tail end of the lead lap, which resulted in a 10th-place finish. Castroneves had crossed the line first, but Scott Dixon from Chip Ganassi Racing was awarded the victory.

Castroneves was furious with the decision. He confronted the two officials and made physical contact with one of them after he exited his car.

"I fully support the decisions of chief steward Brian Barnhart and Race Control," Randy Bernard, the chief executive officer for the series, said in a statement. "The drivers have been aware of the blocking rule for quite some time. Brian reminded the drivers of the blocking rule in the Edmonton pre-race drivers' meeting, which serves as the first warning, and the rule was executed during the race, just as it dictates."

IndyCar officials contemplated the possibility of suspending Castroneves.

"This is a very serious matter, and we weighed all options, including suspension, but we felt suspension would hurt the fans more than anyone else," Bernard added.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.