HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NASCAR chairman Brian France defended the policy of fining drivers who make critical comments about the series, and said Friday he saw no benefit in making those penalties public.

The Associated Press on Thursday reported Brad Keselowski was fined $25,000 for critical comments made last week about NASCAR’s move to fuel injection next season. It marks at least four times in two years drivers have been fined for comments and NASCAR has not announced them.

This latest incident has overshadowed NASCAR’s championship weekend, which was being celebrated for the tremendous title fight between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart before word of Keselowski’s fine spread.

“When you cross a line that denigrates the direction of the sport or the quality of the racing, we’re not going to accept that. Not going to accept it,” France said. “Happy to have any other criticism, any other complaint, happy to hear them all. If I own a restaurant and I say you know what, the food in my restaurant is not very good, we’re not going to accept it. It’s as simple as that.”

But he didn’t offer a clear reason why NASCAR doesn’t announce the fines.

“What would be the benefit? The drivers know exactly what we’re after,” he said. “They know exactly what we expect out of them and when they don’t handle that, the only way we can control that is, obviously, a fining system.”

Hamlin admitted Friday his fine last year curbed his participation on Twitter and his willingness to be outspoken,

“I for sure want to go out there and speak my mind on some things I do and don’t agree with, but I am not going to just keep hacking up a fine every time I have an opinion,” he said.