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| Ryan Newman and Luke Lambert |
NASCAR
served fair warning recently that tampering with race tires would result in a
severe penalty.
Today,
the hammer fell.
The
No. 31 Richard Childress Racing/Caterpillar Chevrolet team was penalized today
in the aftermath of a post-race tire audit conducted by NASCAR following the
March 22 race at Auto Club Speedway.
The
P5-level infraction violated the Sections 12.1 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rule book: Actions detrimental to stock car racing and
20.16.A: Any device, modification, or procedure to the tire or wheel, including
the valve stem hardware, that is used to release pressure, beyond normal
pressure adjustments, from the tire and/or inner shield, will not be permitted.
Section 12.5.3.5.1 of the NASCAR rule book specifically
lists an example of a P5 Penalty Violation as including (but not limited to) “Effecting, modifying and/or altering the standard tires
in any way, other than through authorized means such as tire pressure
adjustments within the recommended range, permitted tire cooling when mounted
on the race vehicle; or heat-cycling on the race vehicle on the race track
earlier in the event.”
As
a result of these violations, crew chief Luke Lambert has been fined a total of
$125,000 ($75,000 plus an additional $50,000 for a violation discovered in
post-race inspection), suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Championship races and any non-championship races or special events that occur
during that time period, and been placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31. The
team’s tire technician, James Bender, and team engineer Philip Surgen have been
suspended for an identical period and been placed on NASCAR probation through
Dec. 31.
Driver
Ryan Newman and car owner Richard Childress each have been penalized with the
loss of 75 championship driver and championship car owner points (50 points and
an additional 25 for a violation discovered in post-race inspection).
“NASCAR
takes very seriously its responsibility to govern and regulate the rules of the
sport in order to ensure competitive balance,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR
Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. “We’ve been very
clear that any modifications to race vehicle tires is an unacceptable practice
and will not be tolerated.”
Altering
of tires, engines and fuel have long been considered part of NASCAR’s “Holy
Trinity;” areas of the race car that are absolutely not to be altered in any
way.
Torrey Galida,
President of Richard Childress Racing, commented on the sanctions today,
saying, “We understand the seriousness of the penalty. In fact, RCR has been
one of the most outspoken opponents against 'tire bleeding' since the rumors
began to surface last season. Once NASCAR provides us with the specific details
of the infraction we will conduct a further internal investigation, and
evaluate our options for an appeal."
I think NASCAR needs to look at the driver portion of their penalty system. For a driver with wins like Harvick, this wouldn't be much of penalty since points really don't mean anything. It certainly wouldn't be a deterrent in my opinion, if you could find an edge and gain a win or two, it would be well worth giving up the 75 points
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck are you talking about? Harvick doesn't drive for RCR
DeleteHarvick is simply named as an example that, had he been caught in the same circumstances (which he of course was not) the 75 points would not negate his multiple wins for Chase eligibility, and therefore may not be a significant enough penalty to deter a winner of multiple races to not follow the same 'illegal' path.
DeleteI think that he means that, for a team like Harvick's that is already in the Chase with one win, a 75 point penalty is meaningless. A "regular season" point penalty has little to no impact on team that has won. They are in the Chase and, to paraphrase Whose Line, "the [regular season] points don't matter," only wins. So, it may be worth the risk of a regular season point penalty and crew chief suspension to get that second or third win before the Chase begins. NASCAR's penalty system will only really affect teams trying to get into the Chase on points (or who need to points for qualifying provisionals). So, if Ryan Newman team thinks they can cheat their way into the Chase on points, this penalty will put an end to that. If one of the winners thinks they can grab an extra win or two, this penalty system will have little impact n their conduct.
DeleteTo that end. 1) Roll over some of the points penalties into the Chase. Perhaps for a P4 or P5 penalty, a third of the penalty will carry over to round one. 2) If the winning car gets a P4 or P5 penalty for something that was on the car that won (and not found and corrected pre-race), that race will not earn the car a Chase slot.
So, the so-called "Holy Trinity" isn't so holy after all? A P5? That's it??! What a joke. Add a little methanol to the fuel next time. P5...pffft.
ReplyDeleteNASCAR's new penalty structure has been in place for two seasons, Dave, and what RCR (allegedly) did was specifically cited as an example of a P5 penalty.
Delete"conduct an internal investigation" in other words, we're looking for a scape goat now !
ReplyDeleteThis is what's called an attention getter.
ReplyDeleteThe 75 points knocks Newman down to 27th place and last year at this time Kevin Harvick was 28th and ended up being the champion. I don't think it was too harsh but I believe that NASCAR should look at allowing teams to use bleeder valves that way it would not be an unfair advantage to any driver as all drivers would be on equal ground and it would create better more consistent racing and keep the cars closer in my opinion
ReplyDeleteIs this the first P-5 penalty handed down?
ReplyDeleteSeems kind of foolish to try to do something when they knew nascar was going over the tires with a fine tooth comb.
ReplyDeletethe sad part is the 31 team got caught for doing something other teams are also doing, but their tires weren't selected for further testing. yes NASCAR sent a message loud and clear to everyone, but, as with the MWR infraction in 2003, they chose a non-Hendricks, non-Gibbs, non-Roush, non-Penske, non-SHR team to become the sacrificial lamb in the lesson.
ReplyDeleteEducate yourself, my friend. A number of teams have had tires confiscated in the last three weeks. With the exception of the 31 team, all have passed those inspections.
DeleteWhy not a series of holes in the rims that would only expand as the wheel gets hot and reseals as the wheel cools , or is that the way the other teams do it ?
ReplyDeleteThe only quibble I have with the penalty should the allegations be upheld is that the "win and you're in" does seem a bit at odds with a points penalty. I would go with invalidating one win for chase eligibility, but NASCAR did the P-system with full knowledge of the new chase format, so I'm sure they gamed out quite a lot of the scenarios. P5 isn't meant to be the "death penalty" for a team, so NASCAR probably got it right.
ReplyDelete