Hendrick Motorsports Wins Appeal, Erases Points Penalty and Suspensions
On March 20th, Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook heard the appeal from Hendrick Motorsports and adjusted the penalties.
On opening day of inspection at Daytona International Speedway on February 17th, the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team was assessed penalties after NASCAR deemed the c-posts to be illegal. According to NASCAR, they broke Section 12-1 of the NASCAR Rule Book “Actions detrimental to stock car racing;”, Section 12-4(J): “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that the Race Equipment used in the Event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the NASCAR Rule Book, or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the Event;”, and Section 20-2.1(E): “If in the judgment of NASCAR Officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance, will not be permitted: Unapproved car body modifications”.
After hearing Hendrick Motorsports’ appeal, Middlebrook erased the 25 owner point penalty assessed to car owner Jeff Gordon, the 25 driver point penalty assessed to Jimmie Johnson, the six week suspension to crew chief Chad Knaus and the six week suspension to car chief Ron Malec. The $100,000 fine penalty to Knaus remains in place along with the probation till May 9th for both Knaus and Malec.
“I’m glad this is over,” team owner Rick Hendrick says. “I would have liked to have the fine gone too because there was no reason for any kind of penalty.”
One of the arguments that Hendrick argued was that NASCAR didn’t give them a chance to work on the c-posts while at least three other teams were allowed to. Hendrick added that his team won the appeal as they had everything documented. They had a NASCAR official say that the c-posts were correct in a previous inspection, and three sworn affidavits saying the c-posts were never touched on Johnson’s car from Talladega last year to Daytona this year.
“There was no ill intent on our part,” Hendrick says. “We felt by the rulebook we were approved. By the rulebook the car was legal.”
Hendrick Motorsports felt that they had a good appeal going in as NASCAR determined the car was illegal before being put under templates.
“The templates were never actually put on the car,” Knaus said during his media appearance at Phoenix International Raceway. “It was a visual inspection at that point. We never even got the opportunity to actually present that under templates. It is unfortunate, there is a bit of subjectiveness to it and that is why we are going through the appeal.”
Knaus said that would be brought up during the appeal, saying they would, “just have to talk about it at that point. NASCAR does a good job; they have a good set-up structure and a good set of standards that are in black and white, some areas that are not.”
Knaus is relieved that it is over, feeling vindicated to a degree, but wishes the fine was also erased. He adds that he was torn up and shocked at the penalty as the car was inside the rules, saying, “We were 100 percent compliant with the rules.”
A lot of people felt the penalties were directed towards the No. 48 team due to their reputation. Knaus says that he’s not worried about his reputation, but the personal digs did hurt.
NASCAR says that they will respect the ruling that Middlebrook has delivered.
“We believe in this process,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp says. “I don’t think we made any mistakes. Our inspection process speaks for itself. It has worked very, very well in the garage for many years and it will work for many years to come.”
Now with the points given back and with the No. 48 team now sittings 11th in points, 36 behind Greg Biffle, Knaus is ready to get on with the season.
“I’m stoked,” he says. “I’m excited. I can’t wait to get to Fontana.”
Ryan Newman Quietly Having Good Season in Owner’s Shadow
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[/media-credit]While the spotlight may be on Tony Stewart, his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman is quietly having a good season so far as he sits 12th in points.
“We didn’t have the car that we had at Daytona last year but at Phoenix, I put ourselves in a bad situation by crashing the primary car,” he says. “Then we got crashed going for fifth in the race with 50-some laps to go. I think our cars have been good. We’ve got the monkey off our back, so to speak, at Vegas with a lucky chance to get up there in fourth and with the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) and the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) having their situation.
At the end of the 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, Newman came home in the 12th position to match his spot in points.
“I’m just really proud of the guys,” he says. “They’ve worked really hard. It’s obviously been a very hectic start to the season with some rain delays and west coast trips and things like that. But they’ve done an excellent job.”
While teams are continuing to look for advantage, NASCAR has thoughts of closing that up by releasing the EFI data to race teams. Newman says that in the past, it’s been easy for NASCAR to keep it simple and old school.
“The EFI opens up a lot of doors,” he says. “They’ve given us a couple of channels to be able to review when it comes to brake-pressure and throttle position. It’s nice to see those things to compare, but like you said; it does have a catch-22 side to it and that’s the fact that if it is a secret, then it’s no longer; and if it is an advantage, it may not be anymore.”
Newman says that drivers can look at the data to see the differences, but putting it to practical use, it may not be as easy.
“I can look at Tony Stewart’s curve and try to match it and I can’t do it with my race car or with the line I’m running or whatever,” he says. “It’s not so much as simple as that as it is as it is that it just gives us an idea of what to maybe change or try at different race tracks. And obviously, that’s going to change as we go into the second race after we can look at some data; it’s all new to us right now. So, it’s an interesting perspective on a change when it comes to technology.”
As Newman heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, it will be another chance to emerge from the boss’ shadow. It won’t be easy as Newman’s average finish at California is 14.4. However, Newman may choose to keep himself hidden as that way it gives him the chance to sneak up and pounce on the competition.
Excuses Aside, It’s Not the Economy
It started on I-64 shortly after leaving Beckley, West Virginia. The trip to Bristol Motor speedway is only 180 miles, the second closest track (to Martinsville) from my home in rural West Virginia. Stopping at a restaurant in Princeton was all talk about the race coming up in two days. It was Friday and many were traveling to the race. Cars with plates as far away at New York were there, and on a quick trip to the restroom, I got my first feedback.
“This is my last trip to Bristol. I’ve given up my season tickets,” said John from Pennsylvania. “They ruined the track. Used to be the survival of the fittest and now it’s more like the half-miles we see all the time. I may go back to the night race after this year, but they can have the spring race.”
From Scott from Ohio, I heard, “this whole coliseum thing and all the hype is just so sad. When they changed the track, it took away Bristol. Sure there were wrecks and cautions, but it was exciting and it’s not exciting today.” Scott is also giving up his tickets. He plans to go to Charlotte instead. “At least it’s easier to get in and out of that track.”
Finally, I talked to my campground neighbors. One of them, Barry from Georgia, was distraught about how boring both races were. “I love racing,” he said. “The problem with this race is that it’s only 250 miles and used to be lots of action. In the Busch race, it was follow the leader and in the big race, it was the same. The drivers love it, but I don’t. I’m going back to Atlanta. I heard so much about this place and started coming in 2006. I can only afford a couple of these a year and this is not a good value.”
And so it goes. The most discussed topic on NASCAR radio today was “Old Bristol” vs. “New Bristol.” The reason was the lack of fannies in the seats at both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. Last year, it was appalling, but this year was worse. No matter what the projections of attendance was, the place looked empty. I know there are 160,000 seats there, but it looked like only a few were there on Saturday and only a few more on Sunday. In fact, friends told me that they had their pick of seats both days. The concourses, once full of people, were sparse and traffic resembled a minor league baseball game. Why has Bristol fallen so far?
Apparently, the track knew what was going to happen. Articles in local papers proclaimed that the economy was the culprit, according to those stories. Yes, the local economy, though bad, is no worse than anyplace else. According to those that know, many suites that corporate sponsors had taken for years were cancelled. Add to that the total dissatisfaction with product among the core fans and you get this reaction. The night race will always be fascinating, but the other races? Not so much. Locals stayed away, but many others did too.
One of the basic principles of entertainment is you have to give the people what they want. You can’t run hundreds of commercials talking about how this is the toughest place to run and then watch two and three wide racing. You cannot let the NASCAR media people, many who depend on the sport for a living, to keep telling fans that this is racing as it was meant to me, and not a demolition derby like we had. Folks, the people paying the bills, liked it the way it was and no matter how much the people at Speedway Motorsports and the talking heads want to spin how wonderful Bristol was since 2009, the fans disagree and they are the ones who pay the bills. If they aren’t happy, nobody’s happy. Brad Keselowski’s proclamation that things change is a typical response from someone who hasn’t studied history. You might say if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. They fixed it and thousands of fans decided it wasn’t worth it. The track won’t change and the crowds will probably be the same as we saw this weekend. What could have been…
So Bristol is over and we head to another track that no one cares about, seemingly even the people of Southern California. We’ll see three-wide racing and a lot of racing like we saw this weekend at Bristol. My heart aches. Once upon a time it was different. We had the bullrings and the speedways and for one moment, someone thought we had to make Bristol like the speedways. And it was a mistake. At least in these old eyes. But there is a silver lining to all of this. I wrote a column last year that said that Martinsville is the new Bristol. I stand by that. It’s a shame that we couldn’t have had two of those, but then again, it’s been the way things have been going for some time.
