This is the first COT penalty. Nascar said this is what it would be. Jr will pay the penalty for TJ. That’s probably a first also.
Tony Jr insists that the brackets were old ones used in testing the COT for Nascar that were inadvertantly put on the car. Funny part is it passed inspection twice before they caught it. More training required for the room of doom guys.
Also.........
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. issued the following statement:“The car in question was a brand new car for the #8 team and the brackets that were found to be nonconforming were built as test pieces before the final design was established by NASCAR. They should not have been on the car and with Tony Eury Jr. away from the track Thursday during inspection, the error was not caught. We do not question the infraction which is clearly spelled out in the NASCAR rule book. However, we have appealed the severity of the penalty.”
I correct myself, I think Biffle had a COT penalty.
I wondered at first if there was sabotage considering Jr leaving DEI and all.
“After a little research, Eury said he discovered that the unapproved brackets were previously used during a wind-tunnel test and had not been replaced before the car came to the track. Eury said with the wing lowered to 18-degrees, the car’s downforce was 20 counts less than had it been mounted to specifications.
“They did us a favor by putting on the other brackets,” said Eury, who mailed the wind-tunnel report to Nextel Cup Series director John Darby.