By David Morgan, Associate Editor
Following last Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway, all eyes were on NASCAR penalty day to see what penalties, if any, would stem from the weekend in the Arizona desert.
On Wednesday, the report was released, with a number of teams caught in the sanctioning body’s crosshairs.
Most notably, Hendrick Motorsports had the hammer dropped on them for the hood louvers that were taken from all four team cars after practice. Though the team still dominated on Sunday with new parts, a cloud still hung over their victory celebration with possible penalties looming.
When the dust settled, all four teams, including the No. 5 of Kyle Larson, No. 9 of Josh Berry, who is subbing for the injured Chase Elliott, the No. 24 of race winner William Byron, and the No. 48 of Alex Bowman were docked 100 points and 10 playoff points.
In addition, the crew chiefs for all four teams (Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, and Blake Harris) were fined $100,000 and handed a four race suspension.
Shortly after the penalties were announced, Hendrick Motorsports put out a statement on their intentions to appeal the penalty and laid out its case for appeal.
The statement reads as follows:
| “On Friday at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR identified louvers on our race cars during a voluntary inspection 35 minutes after the opening of the garage and prior to on-track activity. NASCAR took possession of the parts approximately four hours later with no prior communication. The situation had no bearing on Saturday’s qualifying session or Sunday’s race.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision by NASCAR to issue penalties and have elected to appeal based on a variety of facts that include: · Louvers provided to teams through NASCAR’s mandated single-source supplier do not match the design submitted by the manufacturer and approved by NASCAR |
Hendrick added in the statement that though an appeal is forthcoming from the team, they would sit out their crew chiefs for this weekend’s race in Atlanta.
Hood louvers were also taken from the No. 31 team at Kaulig Racing and the same penalties that were directed at Hendrick…
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