Officials of NASCAR announced penalties imposed for rules violations following the Feb. 15 CTS Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona. Bob Keselowski, crew chief of the #29 K Automotive Performance Ford has been fined $10,000, team owner Kay Keselowski 100 NASCAR championship owner points and driver Terry Cook 100 NASCAR championship driver points under several sections of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rulebook: Section 12-4-Q, determination by NASCAR officials that parts/equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules; and Section 20-B-5.6.1, engine cylinder head exhaust port location.(NASCAR PR) AND The engine, provided to the team by veteran NASCAR engine builder Ernie Elliott, was deemed to have cylinder head ports that were off center line by 32-thousandths of an inch. “This is the first time in 27 years of building NASCAR engines that something like this has happened to me,” said Elliott. “It was a simple machining error. There were two or three sets of heads out of that batch that got cut that way. I understand that’s wrong and I was the one that made the mistake. Unfortunately, the race team is going to pay the penalty. I can’t apologize enough for that. It was an honest mistake and it didn’t enhance performance in any way. Typically, when you see a performance gain in this area, the ports are raised. In this case, they were slightly shifted from left to right. Every other issue about these heads was correct other than the ports were shifted left to right 32-thousandths of an inch. If I was going to do something to try to enhance the performance, I would have bumped the compression or raised the ports. I certainly wouldn’t shift the ports 32-thousandths off center.” “We have complete confidence in Ernie Elliott and his engines,” stated Bob Keselowski. “According to NASCAR, the infraction last weekend in no way enhanced the performance of our truck. Terry raced his heart out and we had a great team effort to finish sixth. We are disappointed with the results of the inspection and we are planning to issue an appeal of this ruling through the proper channels.” The 100-point penalty dropped Cook from sixth to 36th in the Truck Series championship standings heading into the next race at Darlington, SC Friday, March 15.(Motorsports Management Group PR)(2-21-2002)
UPDATE: On MArch 5, 2002 Officials of the National Stock Car Racing Commission heard and considered the appeal of Kay Keselowski, Owner of K-Automotive Motorsports. The appeal pertained to 3 penalties issued by NASCAR due to cylinder head infractions on the #29 racetruck in the CTS race held at Daytona in February of 2002. The penalties were:
Loss of 100 Championship Truck Owner points for owner, Kay Keselowski
Loss of 100 Driver Championship points for driver, Terry Cook
$10,000 fine for Crew Chief, Robert Keselowski
The Commission finds the following: The rule concerning the location of the exhaust ports on cylinder heads is clearly written.. The violation was evident when the heads in question were measured using the NASCAR template. The Appellant argued that the team was depending on a third-party vendor in this case and was unaware of the infraction until after the race. In a written statement the engine builder admitted responsibility claiming that the infractions were due to a machining error. The Commission observed that the infractions pertained to all ports on both cylinder heads in the matched set, rather than to a single exhaust port or to one cylinder head alone. The Appellant made a compelling argument that the K-Automotive race team has a long-standing record of adherence to the rules, which NASCAR officials verified. The Commission notes same when rendering its decision in this case. However, by the Rule Book and the Entry Coupon, the owner, driver and crew chief are ultimately responsible for presenting a legal racetruck including any components supplied by third-party vendors. Such ultimate responsibility is necessary to maintain the integrity of the sport. The Commission also weighed the magnitude of the penalties. The penalties, while serious, are not inappropriate for engines modifications of this nature. It is therefore the unanimous decision of the National Stock Car Racing Commission to uphold the penalty assessed by NASCAR. The Appellant has the right, under Section 15 of the NASCAR Rule Book, to appeal this decision to the National Stock Car Racing.(NASCAR PR)(3-7-2002)
