



A father who pulled his son from his car following a fiery crash has been placed on probation for the rest of the season by the track where the wreck occurred.

Dean Jones jumped into action when his son Mike’s car burst into flames following a crash in a NASCAR-sanctioned late model race on June 16 at South Boston Speedway. While you can’t blame Dean for his fatherly instincts kicking in, those instincts are also a breach of conduct. It’s against the rules for people other than licensed safety personnel to run out on an active track.

According to a statement from South Boston to ESPN, Dean Jones won’t be fined or suspended for his actions. Mike was uninjured in the crash.

“Mr. Jones will not be fined nor suspended,” South Boston Speedway said in a statement. “He has been placed on probation through the end of the year. “We have sat down with Mr. Jones and discussed what transpired on Saturday, and he fully understands our position on non-safety personnel entering the track surface during an event. We are all grateful that there weren’t any injuries, and we look forward to getting back to racing.”

It was a situation similar to what happened in NASCAR’s Cup Series in 2015. After Austin Dillon’s car went flying into the catchfence at the conclusion of the July race at Daytona, crew members from multiple teams ran to get Dillon out of his car after it came to a stop on its roof in front of pit road. While those crew members technically violated NASCAR’s rule against running out on an active track, no crew members were punished for the transgression.

Mike Jones has competed in eight NASCAR Whelen All-American Series races this season at his home track of South Boston. He’s finished in the top five once and has three top-10 finishes.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

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