Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, whose car was found to be a quarter-inch too low following qualifying Friday, said Sunday his team did not intentionally attempt to skirt the rules for the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. The #61 Dodge of Chad Chaffin was found to be too low in post-qualifying inspection and the team’s qualifying time was disallowed. Because the team wasn’t in the top 35 and locked in, it was one of the four teams to go home. The team said NASCAR’s disallowing its time and thus knocking it out of the race cost the team at least $70,000 in purse winnings. Typically, a team does not lose as much money for being too low after qualifying because it still gets in the race by being locked in the top 35. “Our team is extremely disappointed in the series of events that took place at the track this weekend,” Jenkins said in a statement. “I want to assure our fans and sponsors that we are committed to working within NASCAR’s guidelines to maintain the integrity of our race efforts. At no time this weekend did anyone from our organization purposely attempt to circumvent those guidelines. We are unclear why NASCAR chose the course of action that they did. The penalty levied against our team does not seem to be consistent with previous penalties issued for similar offenses. This has left our team with a number of unanswered questions.”(SceneDaily.com)(7-24-2006)
