NASCAR announced today that penalties have been issued to the Nextel Cup Series #2 Dodge team as a result of rule violations last week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Crew chief Roy McCauley has been fined $25,000 and suspended from all NASCAR events until Nov. 1, 2006. McCauley has also been placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2006. Driver Kurt Busch was penalized with the loss of 50 driver championship points and car owner Roger Penske was penalized 50 owner championship points. The penalties resulted from violations of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment that do not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-12.3M (right rear shock absorber would not compress) of the 2006 NASCAR Rule Book. The infraction was discovered during post-qualifying inspection on Oct. 12.(NASCAR PR)(10-18-2006)
UPDATE – no appeal: Penske Racing South officials say that Matt Gimbel will fill in as interim crew chief this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Penske Performance Inc. President Tim Cindric released a statement that said the team will not appeal. “While we respect the fact that the shock in question did not move the required amount after Kurt’s qualifying run, under the rules we are unable to open the shock to determine the reason until the appeal period ends,” Cindric said in the statement. “After discussing the situation with our team, I’m convinced that the problem we had with our shock was not an intentional attempt by any member of our team to circumvent NASCAR’s rules. We do not plan to appeal the decision, but we look forward to opening the shock with NASCAR to determine what caused us to fail post-qualifying inspection.”(SceneDaily.com)(10-19-2006)
