Restoring credibility

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Robin Pemberton stepped out of the spotlight when he gave up a successful career as a top-level crew chief following the 2001 season.
Six years later, he's a far bigger star than he ever wanted to be.
NASCAR's competition director became the center of attention at Daytona as he led the crackdown on cheating. The sport-coat clad Pemberton paced through the garage investigating corruption, then grimly faced the media on three consecutive days to announce the toughest penalties in NASCAR history.
"We're going to grab this one by the horns," Pemberton said on Day 1.
"We've got people's attention now," he declared on Day 2.
"You couldn't stage this stuff, even if you wanted to," he wearily offered on Day 3.
Trying times
It was trying times for Pemberton, one of the first people in the garage and one of the last to leave each day as he worked with NASCAR's top officials to prevent the Daytona 500 from becoming a joke.
When the race finally began last Sunday, six crew members had been thrown out of the garage, 250,000 in fines had been levied and five drivers had been docked points. Most important, NASCAR had convinced a skeptical racing community the Daytona 500 would be fair.
"I don't think there's any doubt that Robin has helped NASCAR's credibility and confidence among the competitors," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "He is a nice complement to the NASCAR staff, particularly as it relates to the high visibility of the competition department."
Pemberton, who led Rusty Wallace to 15 victories, joined the staff almost three years ago, and he's still trying to get comfortable in the job.
"The transition from being on one side of the fence to the other, how I manage relationships, how I work the garage area and work the teams, it's something that takes a while to figure out," said Pemberton, who spent 22 years working side-by-side with the people he now polices.
Didn't scale back
When he left Wallace's team after 230 races -- a streak that had been the longest active driver-crew chief tandem in the Cup series -- Pemberton had hoped to scale back a bit and spend some time with his two sons before they left for college.
But after brief stints with Petty Enterprises and Ford Racing, NASCAR wooed him to a position that requires more work and even longer days than he ever put in as a crew chief.
It was everything the 50-year-old Pemberton had been trying to escape after a career in which he missed less than a dozen races since 1979.
"I won't be the first to admit that plan didn't really go right for me," he said. "Maybe it's because I've always worked seven days a week, even before I was in racing. I just gravitate to jobs that take seven days a week."
Because of Pemberton's experience in the garage and the relationships he had built, NASCAR felt he was the perfect fit.
The competitors, who praise Pemberton for his professionalism, agree.
"Robin brings a perspective to our sport that, for someone in that job, is much needed," said Jeff Burton.
"He is someone who has been there recently, understands how this thing works, understands the mentality of the teams. It used to be that NASCAR never had that. It was their group, and it was our group.
Some qualities
"But Robin has made NASCAR understand some things and made us understand some things. He's very open-minded. He's very fair. He's easy to talk to, and he's not afraid to disagree with you."
It's important that Pemberton retain all those qualities. He had the unpleasant task of removing Michael Waltrip's competition director from the garage last week after the team was caught using a fuel additive before qualifying.
Pemberton has known Bobby Kennedy for years and did his best to keep the escorted walk out of the garage professional.
"I've got a really strong relationships with quite a few people in the garage area," he said. "The trick now is maintaining those relationships from being able to go in the back [of the NASCAR truck] to going to have dinner with a friend."
That includes his younger brother, Ryan, a crew chief at Ginn Racing for Mark Martin.
Although Ryan Pemberton has yet to break any major rules on Robin's watch, the two fell on opposite sides of the fence at the end of the Daytona 500.
Martin was racing Kevin Harvick for the win when a multi-car accident erupted behind them on the last lap. Martin could have been awarded the victory depending on when NASCAR threw the caution flag, but it didn't come until after Harvick beat Martin to the finish line.
"My son called me after the race and said 'Dad, you sure are trying to make things awkward around here at Thanksgiving,' " Robin joked.
The brothers talked two days after the 500, with Ryan holding no grudge over the decision.
"We keep the business part separate," Ryan Pemberton said. "We don't put ourselves in position to do that. I don't call him to talk to him about it. I don't ask him any questions."
Robin Pemberton does the same, whether it's with his brother, a crew member he once employed or a car owner he used to work for.
"You look at those cars as dots on the screens, not as drivers or numbers," he said. "I have no problem with that."
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