Johnny Sauter’s #1 James Finch owned Dodge team finished 14th in Saturday’s O’Reilly 300 but may face penalties in the following days. Picked as the random car for post race inspection, Sauter’s Dodge caught the eyes of NASCAR officials. What the problem is exactly, is unclear at this time. “There are some issues with the #1 car that could result in a revision of the race results or could result in penalities for the #1 team. At this point the #1 car is still undergoing post race inspection,” said Busch Series Communications Manager Tracey Judd. The #1 car is being kept overnight for ongoing inspection. Vice President of Corporate Communications for NASCAR, Jim Hunter, will be on hand at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday to announce details of the infraction. The top three cars belonging to race winner Kasey Kahne, second place Greg Biffle and third place Reed Sorenson, all cleared the inspection process.(BGNRacing.com)(4-16-2005)
UPDATE – disqualified Sauters team has been hit with their first of what is expected to be a long string of penalties for having an illegal carburetor on the #1 Dodge. On Sunday the teams 14th place finish was thrown out, along with their earned points and money. The rest of the finishers below the 14th position from Saturdays race will jump a spot in the rundown. Other penalties varying from monetary to suspensions will be handed out later this week.(BGNRacing.com)(4-16-2005)
UPDATE 2 – Penalties: NASCAR announced Tuesday that Joe Shear Jr., crew chief of the #1 Dodge driven by Johnny Sauter in the NASCAR Busch Series, has been suspended until May 18 (the next four races beginning at Phoenix) and placed on probation until December 31, 2005 after rule violations Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. Shear violated Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used that do not conform to NASCAR rules) of the NASCAR Busch Series rule book due to an unapproved carburetor. The violations were determined following post-race inspection.(NASCAR PR)(4-19-2005)
UPDATE 3 to APPEAL: Moments after the penalty was handed down, Phoenix Racing owner James Finch told Claire B. Lang live on XM Satellite NASCAR Radio that he would appeal: “We’re appealing the penalty as it came down for Joe. We’re also going to appeal the suspension in the race because NASCAR has a procedure to inspect these cars. They charge $900 per car in the Busch Series, and $2425 in the Cup Series, so NASCAR took in around $163,000 this weekend to inspect these cars. We gave them the carburetor–the specific carburetor in question–and asked them “Check this carburetor; we want to see if we can run this carburetor this weekend.” They did that. They checked it, they put it on the car, they put a seal on it, we went out and qualified, they impounded the car on Thursday afternoon. Saturday afternoon–late–they pulled the car and says “This is going to be a random check.” And they tore the motor down and they took the carburetor apart and said it was illegal, and it’s too big. I think it’s NASCAR’s mistake, it’s not my mistake.”(Claire B. Lang – XM Satellite NASCAR Radio)(4-20-2005)
