Four little letters cost Dale Jr. 25 big points

Kurt Busch vaulted into first-place after Earnhardt's slip of the tongue.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The moment the four-letter word slipped out of Dale Earnhardt's mouth, NASCAR knew it had a dilemma on its hands.
The precedent had already been set for punishing drivers who cursed during broadcast interviews -- a sizable fine, plus the deduction of championship points, which have a far greater value than any cash amount.
But docking points from Junior for using a vulgarity in Victory Lane last week at Talladega had severe implications: He'd drop from first to second in the points lead, giving up the top spot in the race for the Nextel Cup title.
Knocking Earnhardt out of the lead would guarantee a nasty backlash from the army of Earnhardt loyalists.
Not taking the points would be even worse, indicating favoritism to a driver many believe already gets preferential treatment from NASCAR.
In the end, it was not a difficult decision at all.
Major penalty
NASCAR took 25 points from Earnhardt and fined him $10,000 on Tuesday, a penalty that dropped him behind Kurt Busch for the points lead with seven events to go in the 10-race playoff system.
"It was really a no-brainer," said NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter. "Are we getting angry e-mails from fans? Of course. But when we announced the Chase for the Championship, everyone asked us how we were going to police it. The answer was 'The same way we police everything else.'
"Just because he was the points leader, just because it changed his position in the standings, changed nothing. The rules are the rules and he broke them."
In upholding the law -- which, by the way, only went into effect in February when NASCAR president Mike Helton ordered all teams to quit cussing on TV and radio -- the sanctioning body created the possibility that the championship could be decided not on the race track, but off of it for a non-racing violation.
Popularity
Busch, who now holds a 12-point lead over Earnhardt, is hoping it doesn't happen. Earnhardt is overwhelmingly NASCAR's most popular driver. Busch, well, is not.
Busch has been booed in Victory Lane numerous times, and realizes that if Earnhardt loses the title by 25-points or less, the winner will be vilified.
"I want to go into the last race with a 155-point edge and that way we won't have to worry about anything," Busch said.
With seven races to go, anything can happen. Earnhardt could race his way back into the lead, or he could wreck his way out of contention.
"This is just a quick point difference that was 13 in his favor and now it's 12 in our favor, but we've got seven races to go," Busch said. "Hopefully, these 25 points won't come into the final factor because we want to beat him on the race track."
Earnhardt and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team are appealing the penalty, but the three-person panel selected from the National Stock Car Racing Commission rarely ever overturns a NASCAR decision.
DEI certainly realizes its chances at having the points restored are slim, at best, but is arguing a much larger point.
"We're facing a setback from a competition standpoint for something that should be considered a personal foul," said Richie Gilmore, DEI's director of competition. "I think we're the only sport that takes points off of the board after they've been scored."
And that's where it gets murky.
NASCAR can, and should, take points for illegal parts, blatant cheating, even rough driving. All those offenses are racing-related.
But swearing? That's got nothing to do with competition.
What's next? Losing points for wearing an ugly firesuit?
Not quite, NASCAR says. But the sanctioning body defends its policy against swearing, pointing to its image as a family sport. And in dealing with drivers who make tons of money -- Earnhardt earned $4,923,500 last season -- fines just weren't getting the message across.