BROOKLYN, Mich. -- NASCAR chairman Bill France said Sunday he would like to see the sanctioning body turn to a penalty system that takes points away from teams instead of the standard fines.

''If you go with the points, that really rings the bell,'' France said. ''I don't like fining someone tight on the dollar. Someone big on money can ingest it a little more, but we need to find a way to maintain law and order that's fair to everyone.''

NASCAR almost never takes points away from a team because its the core of the race for the Winston Cup championship.

Instead, teams are fined and the money is put into the point fund that is split among the drivers at the end of the season.

But NASCAR president Mike Helton recently warned teams that deduction of points could become the norm because of a recent rash of cars failing postrace inspections.

France said he favored that route because monetary penalties on the lower-tier teams creates a lingering hardship.

''We need to keep the officiating to where it's fair and still maintaining the credibility of the race teams,'' he said.

Gordon's milestone
Jeff Gordon rallied after falling a lap down in the Sirius Satellite Radio 400 to earn yet another milestone in his career: his 200th top-10 finish.

Gordon finished fifth in his 308th Winston Cup start and pulled into a second-place tie with teammate Jimmie Johnson in the points standings.

''I'm real happy,'' Gordon said. ''To fall a lap down was real disappointing, but we worked hard and to come back for a fifth place finish is pretty good.''

To do so, he had to overcome getting caught on pit road when the first caution of the race came out. Gordon was one of many cars making a scheduled pit stop when John Andretti hit the wall bringing out the yellow and causing everyone getting service to fall a lap down.

He had to fight to stay ahead of the leaders, missing a chance to get his lap back once when Dale Jarrett wouldn't let him by, then finally getting it on the next round of yellow.

Despite bumping Jarrett after Jarrett refused to let him by, Gordon agreed that there shouldn't be any freebies.

''I'd probably do the same to him,'' Gordon said. ''He heard the caution might be coming out and he made a pretty strong move to pass me because he knew he didn't want me on the lead lap.

''Later, we got our lap back and finished fifth. And that's why not too many guys would give me a lap back. That's why I don't give many guys their lap back, either.''

Atwood's awful day
Bad luck and perhaps bad planning turned a big weekend for Casey Atwood into a nightmare.

Atwood, coming off three straight season-best finishes, had hoped to continue his surge in a race funded by Sirius, his primary sponsor.

But the 21-year-old driver hit hard times early, wrecking his primary car on the warmup lap of qualifying. His Evernham Motorsports team believed the Dodge Intrepid slipped in oil on the track, causing the crash that destroyed the car.

His backup car was very loose and very slow all weekend, proven when Atwood fell far off the pace and was passed by the leaders just 18 laps into the race. He finished 39th, seven laps down and crew chief Tony Furr speculated the team likely brought the wrong Dodge as a backup.

''We never got the backup car where we wanted it and I just couldn't drive it,'' Atwood said. ''We didn't get the finish we wanted and I know it was an important race, but we showed a lot of gains.''

Brotherly support
When rain postponed Saturday night's Busch series race in Kentucky, Todd Bodine knew he wasn't going to make it back to Michigan in time for the Cup race.

So Bodine turned to his brother, Geoffrey, who had been helping him pull off double-duty all weekend by sitting in the No. 26 Ford whenever Todd was required to be in Kentucky.

Todd Bodine stayed behind in Kentucky, winning the race in a thrilling last-lap battle with Greg Biffle.

Geoffrey ran the Cup race, finishing 19th in a car that has just temporary sponsorship and needs strong runs for car owner Travis Carter to keep it funded.

''The car kept getting better and better, and to top it off, Todd won the Busch race,'' Geoffrey said. ''I'm proud of him and I thank Travis Carter for this opportunity.''

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