All Kaulig points penalties rescinded at the request of NASCAR

On March 15, NASCAR issued penalties to five Cup teams – all four Hendrick Motorsports teams and the No. 31 team from Kaulig Racing – for the unapproved modification of hood louvers (vents) which are single-source parts.

All points penalties against Hendrick were rescinded on appeal, but a different three-person panel mostly upheld the penalties against Kaulig. The original 100-point penalty was merely reduced to 75 points on April 5.

Team president Chris Rice spoke out against the decision and called the penalties ‘devastating’ to the small organization. 

Now, Final Appeals Officer Bill Mullis has rescinded the remaining 75-point penalty, as well as the loss of ten playoff points.

At NASCAR’s request

In an interesting development, this decision came at the request of NASCAR who asked for the points penalties to be erased “in the interest of treating all competitors fairly.” Obviously, this is in response to the HMS decision.

Full statement:

“NASCAR believes that Kaulig Racing committed the violations documented in the penalty notice, that the penalties were appropriate and that the three-person appeals panel ruled correctly when hearing the Kaulig appeal on April 5. However, in the interest of treating all competitors fairly, NASCAR today requested that the Final Appeals Officer remove the race and playoff points from the penalty. The Kaulig and Hendrick Motorsports violations involved the same modified part found during the same race weekend (modified louver at Phoenix Raceway), and with fairness and consistency top of mind, NASCAR requested that the FAO match the final Hendrick Motorsports penalty.  NASCAR believes that the updates made to the Rule Book will address similar issues in the future and keep its promise to the owners for strict penalties when single-source parts are modified.  We are pleased with the swift resolution to today’s appeal, appreciate Bill Mullis’ ruling and now look forward to this weekend’s events at Talladega Superspeedway.”

NASCAR recently changed the appeals process, and if a team is found to have been in violation of the rules, the assessed penalties can only be modified and not completely rescinded. However, at NASCAR’s request, Mullis was able to do just that. The amended process also calls for more transparency and reasoning behind each ruling, which Mullis provided. 

The final ruling:

1. That the Appellant violated the Rule(s) set forth in the Penalty Notice.

2. That the…