Winning Engine From Matt Kenseth’s Kansas Car Illegal
Major news is breaking in the racing world today after the connecting rod in the engine of Kenseth’s winning Kansas car was found to be illegal following the race. The engine is supplied by Toyota Racing Development but Joe Gibbs Racing will be held accountable in the eyes of NASCAR. I expect major penalties much like we saw with Penske Racing following the NRA 500 at Texas; possibly even harsher due to the fact the team raced with it and won.
NASCAR is even very strict when it comes to the engines of these cars. If you remember a few years back, a tremendous fine was handed to Carl Long when he showed up to Charlotte with an over sized motor and the penalty basically ended his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. He was suspended for eight weeks, fined $200,000 and lost 200 pts (equivalent of about 50 today) for having an engine that was 0.17 cubic inches over limit.
With the new Generation 6 car, NASCAR has been more than willing to drop the hammer on these teams and I don’t think it pleases them one bit to find out after someone won the race with an illegal car. The winning car, the second place finisher and a randomly selected one get taken back to the R&D Center each week. This week, that was Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte. The No.5 and No.47 passed NASCAR’s scrutiny with no issues. The advantage of lighter connecting rods could be that the engine will respond quicker and can turn a higher RPM.
At this time, it is unclear if the team manipulated the connecting rods or exactly how much it was under the minimum weight. NASCAR officials have yet to confirm or deny the violation but they will most likely update the situation later today. This is very surprising to me and caught a lot of people off guard considering we usually hear things like this on Monday or Tuesday.
*As a result of this violation, NASCAR has assessed the following penalties:
· Crew chief Jason Ratcliff has been fined $200,000 and suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (a period of time that also includes the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
· Car owner Joe Gibbs has lost 50 championship car owner points; the first place finish from April 21 at Kansas Speedway will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate car owner points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a car owner Wild Card position; has had the owner’s license for the No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car suspended until the completion of the next six championship points events, therefore being ineligible to receive championship car owner points during that period of time.
· Driver Matt Kenseth has lost 50 championship driver points; the Coors Light Pole award from April 19 at Kansas Speedway will not be allowed for eligibility into the 2014 Sprint Unlimited; the first place finish from April 21 at Kansas Speedway will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate driver points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a driver Wild Card position.
· The loss of five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturer Championship points.
*credit NASCAR.
You can follow my twitter account, @ndegroot89 for more updates as this drama with the No.20 team unfolds.
Bowyer notes Cup success ‘all about the people you have around you’
Once, Clint Bowyer was happy to be amongst the boys of the Sprint Cup Series. Racing weekly with the stars of the NSCS for an organization as storied as the sport itself.
Bowyer though, is a long ways away from his 2006 rookie season and as he continues to search for his first career Sprint Cup Series title with Michael Waltrip Racing, he now does so while thought of as one of the best. He’s now contending for wins on a weekly basis, enjoying more of the spotlight and taking a team of underdogs where they’ve never been before.
“I’m telling you, it’s the people that are around you,” said Bowyer on Tuesday during a NASCAR teleconference about his career turnaround.
“That’s the only thing that’s changed. I went from just kind of being one of the boys to one of the elite, and it’s because of making the change to MWR, to the Toyota camp and having Brian Pattie and everybody on our 15 car. That’s been the thing that’s changed.”
He’s bold move from Richard Childress Racing following the 2011 season is paying off in ways never thought before. And results appeared quicker than expected. Led by crew chief Brian Pattie, who joined Bowyer at MWR from a struggling Juan Pablo Montoya team at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, the 15 team performed as if they’d been together for years.
They won three races – Sonoma, Richmond and Charlotte – and finished second in points. It was a career year for Bowyer, both in season wins and championship finish.
“It’s all about the people you have around you,” Bowyer reiterated. “Brian Pattie, everybody on our 5-Hour Energy Toyota is just really, really on. I’ve got an awesome group, from the crew chief with Pattie to engineers, over the wall crew has really turned the corner and gotten a lot better this year.
“We just keep perfecting what we’ve got. But everybody at MWR, everybody at TRD, it’s just a really good package and a great program that I’m a part of and I think the results are kind of speaking for themselves.”
Heading into Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, in which Bowyer is a previous winner, one of two RIR wins on his resume, he sits ninth in points. Continuing where he left off in 2012, a bit of a surprise for some, but not for Bowyer.
“I think we picked up right where we left off last year,” he said. “Obviously everybody talks about that [second place] jinx and everything else, it just wasn’t the case with us.
“The reason I didn’t think so is everybody else that had finished second, Carl – looking at Carl in particular, he lost by a point. Just the devastation from that can carry over not only just within a driver but everybody across the board on the race team.”
Unfortunately, for Bowyer, he never had a shot at losing the 2012 championship. While he went to finale in Homestead mathematically eliminated because of the now infamous crash the previous week in Phoenix with Jeff Gordon, troubles for contending Jimmie Johnson allowed Bowyer to jump over him in the final standings.
Looking back, the MWR team suffers from of a case of what could have been, instead of what should have been. But for a team of self-called misfits, it was something to be proud of and to use going forward as they learn, age and get better together.
“We were first year in with a brand new team, we finished second in the championship, won three races,” said Bowyer. “There was absolutely nothing to be hanging your head on, holding your head down.
“We were all super pumped up and couldn’t wait to get started in 2013. For us it’s just kind of been business as usual. We’ve had some bumps in the road, we’ve had some bad luck that we’ve had to battle through. But nonetheless, we’ve been able to continue to rebound after a bad weekend and get a good finish.”
