So, what's the big damn deal? Dale Earnhardt Jr. said a bad word. Inappropriate words at inappropriate times are certainly nothing new to NASCAR. The crusty, old World War II vets that started the sport in the late 1940's dropped verbal bombs as often as they did words like "and" and "hello". Legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick couldn't say good morning without every child for two square miles having to put on ear muffs.

But Smokey was never on live TV. Every practice lap and qualifying session wasn't covered each and every weekend by MRN and Speed Channel. Today they are, more than likely with their ears tuned in to even the once-secret radio communication between driver and crew.

Ordinal out of range In the last two years alone, Mike Wallace has been fined for cursing in front of a live TV camera during an argument, Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday were fined for cursing each other through the broadcast networks, and Kurt Busch was held for four laps at Daytona for hurling potty-mouthed language at NASCAR officials over the his radio.

So, what are the top five most infamous f-bombs and s-words in this new 24-hours-a-day world of racing coverage? Read on...

5. Going for it — 2002

Rookie Jimmie Johnson had just won at Dover and suddenly found himself in a position that no rookie had ever experienced in the closing weeks of the 2002 season — he was a legitimate title contender.

When TV cameras approached crew chief Chad Knaus, his emotions got the best of him. "We're for real!" he exclaimed. "And we're f------ going for it!"

The uncontrollable emotion wasn't a surprise... but the uncontrolled verbiage from the usually composed crew chief certainly was. He was fined $5,000, about three percent of his team's Victory Lane check.

4. Let this be a lesson — 1997

Ordinal out of range Rusty Wallace had dominated all day long at Martinsville, then city hall struck him down. NASCAR officials ruled that Rusty had jumped a restart with less than 20 laps remaining in the race, bringing out the black flag and costing him the lead.

Wallace responded by describing the ruling as "a bunch of s---" during a post-race radio interview. He was promptly slapped with a $5,000 fine, which he paid to Bill France Junior personally at Charlotte the following week... in pennies.

Then, after making sure that all cameras and tape recorders were rolling, Rusty proclaimed, "Let this be a lesson to you all. Never say s--- on TV."

3. Shocking shocks — 1999

While deep in the throes of a title chase, Dale Jarrett suffered a shock absorber failure at Talladega. ESPN TV cameras alertly covered the number 88 team as they scrambled to fix their Ford Thunderbird.

Over the team radio, crew chief Todd Parrott shouted to a crewman, "Get some 20-bleed shocks for this mother------!"

ESPN viewers heard every red letter and heard them again when the network re-aired the f-bomb one day later during a replay of the race. Parrott was fined $5,000 and has refused to allow microphones in his pits ever since.

2. The King's proclamation — 1992

Richard Petty's career went out in a literal blaze of glory at Atlanta in 1992. Barely one-third of the way into his 1,117th and final Winston Cup start, The King was caught up in a mess not of his own making, the car catching fire and rolling powerless into the Turn 1 infield grass.

"The safety crews came up to me, and they started asking for autographs," Petty recalled earlier this week. "And I was sitting there with my car on fire! So I said something I shouldn't have said and I guess the TV coverage was broadcasting my team's radio frequency."

In-car cameras showed Petty pointing and flailing his arms toward the fire outside his windshield as he shouted, "Get the f------ fire extinguisher!"

1. Little E and the S-bomb — 2004

Never has such a small word cost a racer so much.

After winning at Talladega and taking over the Nextel Cup points lead, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked about the emotions of winning his fifth race at Talladega.

Ordinal out of range "It don't mean s--- right now," Earnhardt Jr. said live on NBC. "Daddy won here 10 times."

Within minutes, NASCAR's curse-word police were in Victory Lane performing an CSI-like filth investigation. Two days later, Junior's pockets were $10,000 lighter and after a 25-point penalty, he was no longer in the points lead. Was the ruling the right one? The jury is still out.

"Do you want the TV commercial of Matt Kenseth being a robot to come to fruition?" Earnhardt said on Sunday. "Anybody offended by the four-letter word I said, I can't imagine why they would have tuned into a race in the first place."

Damn right.

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Ryan McGee is the managing editor of and NASCAR This Morning on Fox Sports Net. He can be reached at his e-mail address: rmcgee@foxsports.com.