Penalties announced: NASCAR officials have announced penalties for five Cup crew chiefs and a BGN crew chief for rules violations that occurred during the race weekend at Talladega. Steve Lane, crew chief of the #45 Dodge Intrepid, received $1,500 in fines for rules violations found during pre-race inspection prior to the Aaron’s 499 on April 21. Lane was penalized under Section 12-4-Q in the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series rule book, “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules: rear spoiler.” He received a $1,000 fine for the rear spoiler and in addition was fined $500 and penalized under Section 12-4-U: “fuel cell container thickness less than 20 gage”. Michael McSwain, crew chief of the #28 Ford Taurus and Paul Andrews, crew chief of the #1 Chevy, both received $1,000 fines and were penalized under Section 12-4-Q: “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules: axles.” Crew chief of the #11 Ford, Doug Richert, was fined $500 and penalized under the same section for having a fuel cell check valve filler neck that exceeded 2-1/8 inches. Buddy Barnes, crew chief of the #7 Dodge, was fined $250 and penalized for having a fuel cell vent that exceeded 1-1/4 inches. Gary Cogswell, crew chief of the #36 BGN Dodge team, was fined $1,000 and penalized under section 12-4-Q for an aluminum brake pedal. In addition, following this past weekend’s NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at California Speedway, three penalties were issued to the following crew chiefs: Mike Beam, crew chief of the #32 Ford, was fined $500 for not returning the impact data recorder box to NASCAR officials after the race. Greg Steadman, crew chief for the #43 Dodge and Bryant Frazier, crew chief of the #44 Dodge, were both fined $1,000 and penalized under Section 12-4-Q: “Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules: axles.”(NASCAR PR)(4-30-2002)
