Posted on 02/13/2007 2:49:00 PM PST by paulat
Crew chiefs suspended, drivers docked points in Daytona cheating scandal
By JENNA FRYER
February 13, 2007 ^AP Auto Racing Writer=
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR took its strongest stance against cheating Tuesday, suspending the crew chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler and docking all four drivers points before the season-opening Daytona 500 for failing inspections.
Kahne, Riggs and Sadler are teammates at Evernham Motorsports. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and runner-up last season, drives for Roush Racing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Robbie Reiser, crew chief for Kenseth, and Kenny Francis, crew chief for Kahne, were suspended four races. Rodney Childers, crew chief for Riggs, and Josh Brown, crew chief for Sadler, were suspended two races.
All four can appeal, a process that could allow them to work the Great American Race. If they do appeal, and the committee cannot schedule a hearing before Sunday's race, they would be allowed to participate.
In toughening its penalties, NASCAR made the unprecedented move of taking points away before the season has even started. Kahne and Kenseth were docked 50 points apiece, while Riggs and Sadler lost 25 each.
Reiser and Francis also were fined $50,000 each, while Childers and Brown were fined $25,000 each.
All four drivers will start the season with negative points -- a move that most likely infuriated the teams, but sent a strong message that NASCAR will no longer tolerate rule-breakers.
NASCAR is still investigating Michael Waltrip's startup Toyota team, which failed a pre-qualifying inspection and had a key part shipped back to North Carolina for further analysis.
It's the second straight season that NASCAR's biggest event has been marred by cheating scandals. Last year, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief was sent home for four races when he was caught cheating in qualifying. Johnson won the race without Chad Knaus, who rejoined the team in March and helped Johnson win the Nextel Cup title.
NASCAR did not take points away from Johnson because the sanctioning body had been reluctant to force a team to start the season in the red. But after three cars failed inspection during Sunday's qualifying session, NASCAR decided it had up the ante to deter teams from continuously pushing the envelope.
The actions come at a time when chairman Brian France is attempting to jump-start the family business, which seemingly hit a plateau last season after years of booming popularity. With television ratings down, attendance at a standstill and France still trying to match the NFL's broad appeal, NASCAR felt it had to crackdown on cheating.
Still, NASCAR stopped short of kicking the teams out of the race, a move that many believe would be the ultimate punishment.
``We're going to get tough with the competitors when they push the credibility of the sport,'' France said. ``But we've got to have the punishments fit the crime. We can't get completely silly about it. We have to be tough, firm and clear.''
Kenseth and Kahne both had their qualifying times thrown out after inspectors discovered illegal holes in the wheel wells, which could have improved aerodynamics.
Evernham maintained the holes had been covered with duct tape that apparently fell off before the Dodge was inspected. But competition director Robin Pemberton said NASCAR believed the tape had been cut.
Riggs and Sadler's cars both had modifications that allowed air to leak out of the trunk area. It was discovered before qualifying and had not been announced by NASCAR before Tuesday.
Waltrip, meanwhile, had a suspicious substance in the intake manifold of his Camry. The part was seized before qualifying, and the car was impounded after the session.
Inspectors plan to examine the car Wednesday, and NASCAR has not decided if it will be returned to Waltrip in time for Thursday's qualifying races. No penalties have been decided as NASCAR continues investigating.
Waltrip is the marquee face of Toyota, which is making its Nextel Cup debut this season.
Updated on Tuesday, Feb 13, 2007 4:53 pm EST
Ping!
-50 and -25 points and they haven't even raced an official Cup race yet.
Talked a hole shot.. ;-)
Got that right. Was just about to ping ya.
Or perhaps the tape was positioned so at speed it would fall off exposing the illegal holes......
egads! I should have said or meant to say
Talk about a hole shot,,
But thanks for reading my mind and not my fingers. we'll tack this onto the current NutsoCart thread.. for those that have the stomach for it, that is. ;-)
NASCAR - BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT AND GATORADE DUELS - DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS FEBRUARY 2007 [Finally] ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1780177/posts
I'm not close to this or any part of racing but as an erstwhile fan, IMO, it's the France family and NASCAR that is screwing up racing, not drivers seeking to gain a competitive advantage.
Rusty Wallace said it best, there is "cheating" and CHEATING. When you have a cair that is 1/8th of an inch too low that is one thing because it could have dropped from the stresses of the race, but when someone has an illegal part on their car, that is a whole other story.
I love the story about Junior Johnson's car being protested back in the old days. The NASCAR inspectors dropped the gas tank out, measured it and were going to pass it as OK, when they heard the engine fire up and Junior drove the car away.
other than body style (which is regulated to the point that basically the only difference is what's printed on the front of the car indicating "make"), what is the difference between a chevy, ford, toyota etc..??
thanks for the ping..:)
Skirting the rules and looking for loopholes has a long tradition in NASCAR. The writer sounds like some vast scandal was discovered but any long time fan knows that the teams are constantly walking the fine line between legal and illegal.
Sometimes they get caught sometimes they don't. Sometimes they get caught and NASCAR ignores it, then all the teams do it next week. Some violations are small and some are big like these were.
FYI
Holes? Holes that had to be covered with duck tape? That fell off????????
Oh, how far NASCAR has moved away from it's roots.
Hey NASCAR! Maybe dropping all the races in the S/E has something to do with fans fading away.
This is worth a ping to the gang.
NASCAR continues to run me off, once Bill Elliott falls a lap down on Sunday I'll turn the race off. Back in the late Eighties I probably watched about 20 Winston Cup races a year pretty much green to checkers, now I didn't watch more than a few minutes of any race last season. Good riddance, once Bill quits for good I doubt I have anything to do with NASCAR
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.