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Sitting at a table with Kevin Lepage on Wednesday afternoon during a media luncheon provided a couple of eye-popping suggestions about how to curtail cheating in the Nextel Cup Series once and for all.

"If you get caught cheating, you're no longer eligible for the Chase," said Lepage, which raised more than a few eyebrows at the table.

"The other thing you could do is fine the teams 500 points," said Lepage, who was at the annual Oxford 250 media day, an open Late Model race he'll compete in on Sunday. "If you look at the way the point fund is structured, you're going from $9 million for winning to $1 million."

"Hit them in the wallet to get their attention," someone mused.

Two things are certain: Kevin Lepage isn't afraid of having an opinion, something lacking in the Nextel Cup garage, and NASCAR's current stance on cheating isn't working at all.

Three races ago at New Hampshire International Speedway, 3 of the race's top-5 finishers did so with suspended crew chiefs. Last week at Chicagoland, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were strong contenders until Johnson crashed out with a blown tire despite working without their regular signal callers.

Gordon, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., all of whom were docked 100 points and had crew chiefs suspended for 6 races, are still Chase-qualified as of this moment. What, then, is that saying about NASCAR's penalties? Certainly, they aren't tough enough and teams aren't afraid of the consequences of being caught.

Lepage also suggested that pressure from sponsors isn't has much as some might believe. In fact, he said, because the media names the drivers and crew chiefs only, the sponsors are typically left above it all.

"Now, if the headline in USA Today said, 'Lowe's team cheats,'" Lepage said,"then that would get their attention. If people think a company is cheating at the racetrack, then are they going to believe that company will cheat them on prices? You bet they will."