Appeals Panel Rescinds No. 48 Team Penalty

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled today on the appeal of a P1 penalty issued on May 27, 2015 to Hendrick Motorsports relative to the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet team at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The penalty concerns Section 12.5.3.1 in the 2015 NASCAR rule book, which reads:

Warnings and P1 penalty options:

.b: Multiple warnings issued to the same team member or team will result in one or more P1 penalties.

.c: If the same team receives two warnings during the same event, or two warnings during two consecutive events, whether the events are championship or non-championship, then this may result in one or more … P1 penalties at NASCAR’s discretion.

The original penalty assessed was the last choice in the pit selection process for the next event.

Upon hearing the testimony, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled that warnings are indeed not appealable, and that NASCAR acted correctly in issuing a P1 penalty after the second warning.

The panel also ruled that a preponderance of evidence showed that the No. 48 car’s side skirt violation which led to the initial warning did occur. There was conflicting evidence, however, about the violation which led to the second warning.

Since only one of the two violations were proven by a preponderance of the evidence, the panel elected to rescind the P1 penalty.

The Appeals panel consisted of Old Dominion Raceway owner Richard Gore, former Gaylord Communications Group president David Hall and former International Race of Champions president Jay Signore.