#24, #48 Teams Penalized For Infractions At Infineon Raceway: NASCAR has issued penalties and fines to the #24 and #48 Hendrick Motorsports teams that compete in the Nextel Cup Series, as a result of rule infractions found this past weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Both cars – the #24 driven by Jeff Gordon and the #48 driven by Jimmie Johnson – were found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); 20-2.1E (parts or components of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that have been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted); and 20-2H (fenders may not be cut or altered except for wheel or tire clearance which must be approved by the Series Director) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book. The violations were found during the initial inspection process last Friday. As a result, Gordon and Johnson have each been penalized 100 driver championship points. Their respective crew chiefs – Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus – have each been fined $100,000, suspended for the next six Nextel Cup Series events until Aug. 15, 2007 and placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2007. In addition, Rick Hendrick, owner of the #24, has been penalized 100 car owner championship points as has Gordon, who is the owner of the #48.(NASCAR PR)(6-26-2007)
Hendrick Motorsports Responds to Penalties: Car owner Rick Hendrick responded to NASCAR sanctions announced today involving the #24 and #48 Nextel Cup Series teams of Hendrick Motorsports. "We are disappointed in NASCAR's decision and feel the penalties are excessive," Hendrick said. "Right now, all of our options are being evaluated, including our personnel situation and a possible appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. We'll take some time to decide on a direction and make an announcement regarding our plans for New Hampshire later in the week."(Hendrick Motorsports PR)(6-26-2007)
All these COT penalties are a load of donkey poop. I agree with Hammond on this...........
Jeff Hammond: When NASCAR puts a template on something, they say, “Here are the guidelines, but you can still work on the car.” NASCAR sold this car as still having a lot of tunability to it. NASCAR president Mike Helton and VP of competition Robin Pemberton said the car wasn’t only safe, but it still had areas in which teams could work. NASCAR needs to be more forgiving in certain situations until everybody understands the new rules. It’s a new car, and everybody is going through a learning curve. As long as it fits the templates and measurements, teams should be able to work in other areas, and NASCAR should be lenient until the sport completely understands this new car.
Pemberton and Nextel Cup director John Darby told me last weekend that a winning race car can go through post-race inspection at the track, but it can still be subject to penalties when it’s taken back to NASCAR’s research and development center. If they find something that they don’t like about the car when they rescan it or feel like a team worked in an area that the templates missed during at-track inspection, that team can be charged points ... after the race. That’s scary.
Teams pay NASCAR to inspect our cars multiple times at the track, and teams also pay NASCAR to certify and inspect these Cars of Tomorrow before they go to the track. Now, they’re taking cars back to R&D after winning a race to determine whether or not you’ve exceeded the rules because you may have done something that can’t be seen by the naked eye. You may have done something wrong and not even known that you did it wrong. A machine and some arbitrary decisions have to be made before a team can know for sure that they won a race and didn’t do anything wrong. That’s what’s scary.
At the track, if NASCAR doesn’t like something about a car, they can park a team for a practice session. That policy can be detrimental to teams that aren’t doing anything intentional and need track time because they are on the outside of the top 12 for the Chase or top 35 for a guaranteed spot in a race. There’s no hard-and-fast rule that says, “This is too much and we’re going to park you for a practice session” Plus, you may wind up losing money and points on top of it all.
Teams aren’t working in a gray area; they’re working in the dark. The spirit of NASCAR has never been chracterized as “Don’t touch, period.” That’s not what has made NASCAR into what it is today. NASCAR has had a huge hand in the development of this new race car, but the competitors are fine-tuning this thing and making it into the show that Bill France Jr. was so proud of. I just hope an undefined inspection procedure won’t be a show-stopper.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6960114