Stewart-Haas Racing to appeal NASCAR penalty

The No. 4 SHR Ford Mustang of Kevin Harvick was docked 100 driver and owner points, while crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 and suspended for four of the last fives races on the 2022 schedule.

The penalty nearly guarantees that the driver and team, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, will finish 16th (last) in playoff standings. NASCAR’s reason for the penalty is because Stewart-Haas Racing is believed to have modified a spec part supplied to the teams, which was later understood to be the deck lid.

SHR confirmed to Motorsport.com that they will indeed appeal the penalty. In the meantime, they have announced Stephen Doran as the interim crew chief of the No. 4 car at the Charlotte Roval for this weekend. This was done to ensure that Childers could be on the pit box for the season finale at Phoenix, no matter the outcome of the appeal. 

There has been a recent precedent of NASCAR penalties being overturn following appeals. In September, Jeremy Clements successfully won an appeal against the sanctioning body, who (among other things) stripped Clements of his position in the Xfinity Series playoffs for an intake manifold violation. The issue was found following his surprise victory at Daytona Int. Speedway. 

And just this week, the entire 25-point penalty handed to William Byron for wrecking Denny Hamlin under caution in the Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway has been rescinded, but the monetary fine doubled to $100,000.

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (RFK) were both issued similarly severe L2 penalties earlier this year. While FRM dropped their planned appeal, RFK decided not to pursue an appeal at all.