this was in the news today... I put my 2 cents in at the bottom >>>
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
NASCAR vowed last summer to crack down on cheaters, pledging to toughen penalties in a sport where bending the rules is as common as banging bumpers. Officials made good on that promise Tuesday.
NASCAR suspended the crew chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler and docked all four drivers points before the season-opening Daytona 500 — its strongest statement to date on cheating.
All four cars failed qualifying inspection, and a fifth, Michael Waltrip's startup Toyota Camry, faces additional penalties that could be even more severe.
"It's obvious that we've ramped up our penalties and we're going to get people's attention," competition director Robin Pemberton said. "We're going to grab this one by the horns."
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.
Kahne, Riggs and Sadler are teammates at Evernham Motorsports. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and runner-up last season, drives for Roush Racing.
All four crew chiefs can appeal, a process that could allow them to work the Great American Race. If they do and the committee cannot schedule a hearing before Sunday's race, they would be allowed to participate.
But Roush Racing already has a replacement for Reiser, and said the 500 will be the first race he has missed since the team's inception in 1999 — a stretch of 255 races.
Reiser and Francis may not appeal because delaying the suspension could cause them to miss the debut of the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.
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 Waltrip, who had a car part seized and 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 strip points 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 seemed to 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 crack down on cheating.
Still, NASCAR stopped short of kicking the teams out of the race, a move 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 Tuesday during his state of the sport address. "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 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 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. It was uncertain if the two-time Daytona 500 winner would make the race. Now it's unclear if NASCAR will allow him to race in Thursday's qualifiers because he's facing an even stiffer penalty.
"We were going to ratchet up penalties and you can see that's happened," Pemberton said. "We'll continue to raise the penalties as time goes forward until we get everybody's attention."
I personally am glad to see this, I think it should be stiffer yet.... I feel that nascar should make a set of rules & make the penalties so severe that it wouldn't be worth the chance of getting caught trying to get away with it .. THEN STICK TO IT.
It's obvious that money fines have no effect due to the high earnings and it's not like these guys don't know what they're doing and what the rules are.
How ever NASCAR is no saint either... A few years ago Jr. was fined some points for saying the word shit in an interview after winning a race Points that would have given him the championship.. So whos fault was it that this happend ?? I feel nascar is to blame... what do you expect when you stick a live microphone in someones facejust as they're getting out of the car after going 200mph for 4 hours... What do you expect "I CAN'T BELEIVE I WON .. THIS IS SO SPIFFY !! As far as I'm concerned they asked for it.. ever since that incident there is now a 5 second delay... geee what a concept, if it had been used befor the 'bad word' Jr would have had his championship already.
Last year Jimmy Johnsons crew chief was suspended for 4 weeks after they were caught cheating after Jimmy had won the race , Would he have won the championship if his points were takin away?? maybe ...not ...
Out of this latest story I think Waltrip should be banned for life.. I just found out that they have now impounded his entire car over this.. Then he had the nerve while being on the speed channel the other evening to talk about how junior broke the rules during the shoot out by bump drafting... I made it a very big deal about jr.breaking this rule and talked shit about Him.. Where would he be today if it wasn't for Dale giving him a chance, That is sooo uncoool to bite the hand that has fed you... My attitude about him and and nascar as well has greatly changed for the worst.
For all I care Waltrip can go sit on jr's lap and like I said last week... I'll watch the race while listening to AC?DC, Van Halen, Aerosmeth, Jonny Lang or Ted Nugent, forenier ond journey
Have a great evening & go Junior !!
