With severe penalties looming, Haas-CNC Motorsports has decided to appeal NASCAR’s ruling that the team’s cars were illegally altered for the May 25 Coca-Cola 600, sources told ESPN.com’s David Newton. NASCAR handed down its most severe penalties yet concerning alterations to its new car on May 28, when the crew chiefs and car chiefs for Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were suspended six races apiece for tampering with the rear wings on their Chevrolets at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Additionally, crew chiefs Bootie Barker and Dave Skog were fined $100,000 each. Derick Jennings and Thomas Harris, the car chiefs, were not fined but their suspensions are unprecedented. All four must sit out until the July 12 race in Chicago, and are on probation through the end of the year. Riggs and Sauter were each docked 150 driver points, penalties that severely hurt the struggling teams. The cars are both fielded by Haas-CNC Motorsports, which was docked 150 owner points for each Chevrolet. Haas general manager Joe Custer is listed as the owner for Riggs’ #66, and Margaret Haas is listed as the owner of Sauter’s #77. Gene Haas, who actually owns the fledgling two-car team, began serving a two-year prison sentence for tax evasion in January. The team is widely believed to be for sale, and two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart has acknowledged he’s received an offer to buy the organization.(ESPN.com)(6-4-2008) AND Haas CNC Racing has appealed its penalties for unapproved wing mounting locations discovered during the Coca-Cola 600 weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a team spokesman confirmed Wednesday. NASCAR penalized the #66 and #70 teams and drivers 150 points as well as issuing six-week suspensions the crew chiefs and car chiefs for both cars. In addition, the crew chiefs were fined $100,000. The team spokesman would not elaborate on the nature of the appeal. The 150-point penalty was the most for a violation of the template rules for the new NASCAR model being used in the Sprint Cup Series. The suspension for car chiefs also was unprecedented. Because the penalty is under appeal, the team could opt to bring back its car chiefs and crew chiefs for the races this weekend at Pocono Raceway, or it could opt to sit them out, thinking that the suspensions might eventually be reduced instead of eliminated. The appeal is tentatively scheduled for June 9.(SceneDaily)(6-5-2008) NOTE: the points penalty stays in effect and is not recinded unless the appeal is won and the team gets some/any/all points back. So the #66 must qualifying for the race and is NOT in the Top-35 of owners pts.
