NASCAR penalizes crew chief for hair pulling incident at Montreal

Patrick Carpentier signs autographs for fans at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before Saturday's race.

Jerry Baxter's venting of his anger at Steve Wallace during Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide series race at Montreal has cost him $5,000.

Baxter was the crew chief for Patrick Carpentier in the No. 99 car in what was billed as Carpentier's final race before retiring from an illustrious career in racing.

But that race ended early, not long after Carpentier was making a pass on the inside of another car going through the hairpin turn on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve course. Wallace saw a brief opening on the inside of Carpentier and decided to make it three wide through the turn. He ended up spinning out Carpentier.

Carpentier was later forced to retire from the race. He climbed out of his car and sat in the grandstands and watched until getting a ride back to the garage as the crowd gave him a huge ovation.

Baxter wasn't too pleased with Wallace, who earned his career best finish in the series. After the race Baxter confronted Wallace while the driver of the No. 66 was still in his car, reached into the car and pulled on Wallace's hair.

On Tuesday, NASCAR fined Baxter $5,000 and placed him on probation for the rest of the year