No Penalties In Roof Flap Spacer Controversy

NASCAR announced today that no penalties will be assessed to the 31 Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams found with modified roof-flap spacers last Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. 

The parts in question were machined to reduce weight and lower the cars’ center of gravity, in violation of a NASCAR rule that requires the parts to be used as supplied in a roof flap kit provided by an aftermarket manufacturer.

NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton explained the ruling in a written statement today, saying, "We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved. Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on-track competition would not be impacted.

“Moving forward, we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions.”