Motorsport News

There’s a Louver’s Quarrel in the Greenhouse

NASCAR Cup Series

In perhaps the most noteworthy body modification penalty since the introduction of the Next Gen car, NASCAR slapped Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing with massive penalties following Phoenix Raceway. NASCAR confiscated all of the hood louvers from all four Hendrick cars, as well as one singular louver from Kaulig Racing, attached to Justin Haley’s No. 31.

The penalties, as expected, were massive. All five teams affected lost 100 driver and owner points (except Chase Elliott’s No. 9, who was exempt from the driver penalty as Elliott has been out with a broken tibia), as well as 10 playoff points. All crew chiefs were placed under a four-race suspension and fined $100,000 – which means Hendrick was fined a grand total of $400,000, the largest single-penalty fine for a team in NASCAR history, surpassing Michael Waltrip Racing’s $300,000 fine following the outcome of Spingate.

The penalties practically nullified both of William Byron’s wins thus far on the season, took Alex Bowman out of the points lead, and left Haley deep on the negative side of the point standings. All four Hendrick teams found themselves lower than 20th in the point standings as well.

As is typical protocol with penalties, both teams appealed the penalties. Hendrick had its appeal heard first, on March 29, where the penalty was heavily amended to the point where the only thing that was left standing from the original penalty was the fines and suspensions to all four of its crew chiefs – any point values lost were restored, giving Bowman the points lead back and elevating Byron and Kyle Larson back into the top 10 in points.

This gave Kaulig Racing some hope heading into its appeal on April 5. However, in a shocking turn of events, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld every aspect of the penalty handed down to Kaulig, with the exception of points, but even that was a small victory – instead of 100 driver and owner points lost, the panel decided to dock the team 75.

What?

Sure, the three-person panel who heard both teams’ appeals were made up of completely different people, but the precedent of the appeal was set when Hendrick got its penalties greatly amended, and it’s no less than egregious that Kaulig didn’t get somewhere near the same penalty.

To start, the penalties itself didn’t seem equal. All of Hendrick Motorsports’ teams had both louvers confiscated, whereas Haley’s No. 31 only had one. Therefore, it seems…

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