TALLADEGA, Ala. -- NASCAR might have made the right call on the yellow-line situation that cast controversy over Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fourth consecutive victory at Talladega Superspeedway, but without a replay of the incident available Sunday evening it is too difficult to say for sure.

That's where the sanctioning body made its error. Once again, it was how it handled a decision that outweighed the decision itself.

Since Junior's victory in the 2001 Pepsi 400, the first race at Daytona International Speedway after his father died, conspiracy theorists have clamored about NASCAR playing favorites with Junior.

The theorists offered Junior's victory at Talladega Superspeedway later that same season as more evidence since the driver's No. 8 car was found to be below the minimum height requirement after the race. Junior was docked no points, kept his race victory and was fined less for the incident than a winning driver who had been found with the same infraction earlier that year.

With Junior once again winning under questionable circumstances, this was NASCAR's opportunity to show its objectivity. Instead, it seemed to highlight its subjectivity.

Let me get one thing straight, though. I am not suggesting that Junior wasn't good enough to win Sunday's race and needed NASCAR's assistance. Junior's got incredible equipment from Dale Earnhardt Inc. and he's added some of his own tricks to an already extensive bag he learned from his father. He's a superspeedway superstar, and he wins because he's good.

But NASCAR says it didn't black-flag Junior for going below the yellow line because he had already passed Matt Kenseth before he went down there -- and the rule, NASCAR added, states that the penalty comes into play when a driver drops below the line to advance position.

If that's the case, cool. But show us.

Bring in the video tape and prove to a skeptical crowd that you aren't playing favorites.

NASCAR refused to show the footage it reviewed before making its call, and in several instances made a point to say that the call was a "subjective decision."

This is why NASCAR runs into problems. When the sanctioning body used to make safety improvements -- both before the death of Dale Earnhardt brought massive attention to the issue and also soon afterward -- it refused to reveal details. It refused to openly discuss anything regarding safety and, as a result, constantly got hammered for a lack of progress both by media and fans.

Once it started "patting itself on the back," as chairman Bill France Jr. said before this season began, it has seldom been attacked for any safety-related measures.

That should have taught the sport's officials a lesson. There are a lot of people that have an eye on this operation thanks to the $2.4 billion TV deal, and the cost of that increased attention -- that move toward the mainstream, as it may be -- is the privacy NASCAR once enjoyed.

No longer can NASCAR afford to make calls on a take-our-word-for-it basis. That's not how things work in the big time.

Junior lamented the fact that this controversy would receive more publicity than the fact that he had just won a record fourth consecutive race at Talladega. I lament that fact along with him, because his feat truly is amazing.

But somebody's at fault here -- and it's either Junior for passing below the yellow line when there was clearly room to pass above it, or it's NASCAR for not standing up and showing evidence that Junior didn't break any rules.

Because, clearly, folks aren't convinced. And I'm not just talking about the press. I'm talking about the competitors in the garage -- folks in the know -- who were also left scratching their heads after the race.

"It looks like they gave it to the 8 car," pole sitter Jeremy Mayfield said. "He can do what he wants to do."

Added Jimmie Johnson, who led the most laps of the race and was behind Kenseth when Junior passed by: "Anybody else whoever dances down there gets in trouble. ... He was clearly below the yellow line, in my opinion."

Kevin Harvick's team obviously believed Junior passed below the yellow line because it protested almost immediately. Team manager Gil Martin and Harvick's crew chief Todd Berrier went to the NASCAR hauler, saw the footage that NASCAR saw and still came out with a different opinion than the sanctioning body -- "We'll have to agree to disagree on this one," he said.

Does that mean NASCAR's hiding something? Was it too afraid to take a victory away from the obvious crowd favorite, the man whom many look to as the one to take the sport to never-before-interested demographics?

I hope not. I hope NASCAR is right -- only because I hope, for the sport's sake, that it made the right call in this race, one which was certainly among the season's most exciting and deserves to be remembered as one on the up-and-up.

But, Sunday night, as reporters wrote stories and broadcasters taped segments that were being dispatched across the nation, NASCAR was unwilling to show its hand. And, just as before, it cost them in the opinion polls.

Rupen Fofaria covers NASCAR for The Raleigh News & Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@newsobserver.com.