NASCAR has been handing out some hefty fines this season–is it not? From Stenhouse Jr to Hocevar and and now Bubba Wallace have all felt the financial sting. But did you know that fines once cost just $1? That’s right, NASCAR’s fine structure wasn’t always as steep as it is today!

Well, such intriguing slices of ancient NASCAR facts seem to get lost but lucky for us Dale Earnhardt Jr is here. On his podcast, he interviews some of the legendary figures and they spill some beans from back in the day. This time legendary NASCAR crew chief Gary Nelson shared a fascinating story about the “white pants” rule from the 1960s!

Gary Nelson unveils the secret of NASCAR’s “White Pants” in the ’60s 

While NASCAR history is great to read, there is nothing more interesting and intriguing than having the stories talked about by the people who were present. Dale Earnhardt Jr’s podcast is a great way for such hidden stories to come out and see the light of day. Infact Dale Earnhardt Jr who is known as NASCAR royalty didn’t know the “secret of the white pants” that everyone on the pit crews rocked in the 1960s at NASCAR. He said when he sees videos of the 1960’s he sees people in white and is like “Why is that a thing?” I guess it was just the style back then.”

Well, he is absolutely wrong and he finally got the answer on that podcast. Gary Nelson who has worked with iconic drivers like Geoff Bodine, Bobby Allison, and Ricky Rudd, gave away the story. He said during the NASCAR weekly tracks, everyone was supposed to wear white pants. He said there were legit rules set in place, “I think it was $4 for a pit pass, but if you didn’t have a NASCAR license, it was $5. And if you didn’t have white pants on, it was $6.”

Now even he didn’t know that for his first few races but it was only so long before he got those white pants and went to those races. And when Junior mentioned all the ’60s videos where everyone is wearing white pants, and how he thought that was the style, he very humorously said, “Oh, I was there. I was one of them. And he added “No, that was a $1 fine. It was cheaper to pay five bucks for a new pair of pants than to go to races, you know.”

Fast forward a few decades, NASCAR doesn’t have the “white pants” rule but they do have a stringent set of rules. And failure to get one not a $1 fine but instead a whopping $50,000

Bubba Wallace faces a hefty fine by NASCAR

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Gone are those days when NASCAR had a dollar fine, because now with big money payout, the consequences are even bigger. Bubba Wallace is the one on the receiving end of NASCAR’s wrath and it was all just unnecessary.

Bubba Wallace had slammed Alex Bowman at Chicago at the cool-down lap for an incident that ensued between them at lap 25. He hit him in the pit road and this is a clear violation, not to mention risky. However, it wasn’t an on-track altercation. It was a violation of NASCAR’s Code of Conduct. Hence they deliberated and finally fined the 23XI driver with a hefty $50,000.

The last time NASCAR gave a penalty as such weirdly enough was also with an altercation between Daniel Suarez and Bowman last year. Going into the race at Chicago, Bubba Wallace had one goal–to win! He didn’t make it to the playoff, he was just tagging behind Bowman who was 17th on points. Cut to after the race, Bowman made it to playoffs and moved to the 11th spot in the standings, as for Wallace he is in the 15th spot. While bad on the money front, he just came to a close save as NASCAR didn’t shave off the playoff points for Wallace. 

Do you think this fine was relevant enough for the situation? Especially when Bowman himself insisted that it was a no-big deal? Let us know!