MOORESVILLE, NC – NASCAR penalized Cup Series team Hendrick Motorsports Wednesday afternoon after the sanctioning body determined the powerhouse operation modified the hood louvers (air vents) during the Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway race weekend.
After reviewing the hood louvers this week at the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, NASCAR has slapped the Concord, N.C.-based team with an L2 penalty for all four of his its Cup Series teams driven by Kyle Larson, Josh Berry (filling in for injured Chase Elliott) Phoenix winner William Byron and Alex Bowman.
For the unapproved modification of a single source vendor-supplied part, each Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, Cliff Daniels (No. 5), Alan Gustafson (No. 9), Ryan Fugle (No. 24) and Blake Harris (No. 48) have been fined $100,000 and suspended for the next four NASCAR Cup Series races.
Each team and driver with the exception of the No. 9 team with driver Josh Berry have also been slapped with the loss of 100 championship points and 10 Playoff points, if applicable.
In addition to Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing’s No. 31 team led by crew chief Trent Owens was handed the same penalty – docking driver Justin Haley 100 drivers points and Kaulig Racing 100 owner points.
Shortly after the severe penalty was handed down, Hendrick Motorsports announced that they would appeal but made the strategic decision not to request a deferral of personnel suspensions.
Hendrick Motorsports said they agreed to a voluntary inspection 35 minutes after the Cup Series garage opened last Friday at Phoenix. According to the organization, NASCAR took possession of the parts approximately four hours later with no prior communication.
Hendrick Motorsports centered its decision to appeal based on a list of facts they issued in a press release:
• Louvers provided to teams through NASCAR’s mandated single-source supplier do not match the design submitted by the manufacturer and approved by NASCAR
• Documented inconsistent and unclear communication by the sanctioning body specifically related to louvers
• Recent comparable penalties issued by NASCAR have been related to issues discovered during a post-race inspection
The team believed the situation had no bearing on Saturday’s qualifying session or Sunday’s race.
Kaulig Racing announced Thursday that they would also appeal NASCAR’s decision.
“Kaulig Racing will appeal the L2 penalty issued by NASCAR following the confiscation of a louver found on the No. 31 Chevrolet this past weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Prior to qualifying on Saturday, only one of the two louvers on the No. 31 car was confiscated, showing inconsistencies in the parts provided to teams from NASCAR’s single source supplier, providing no competitive advantage.
“We will be requesting deferral of crew chief suspension until after the appeal hearing,” the company said in a statement.
No timetable has been set for the appeal hearing.
In Phoenix, Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon said the organization had been in contact with NASCAR about the hood louvers.
“We had some conversation, will continue to have conversations, with NASCAR,” Gordon told NBC Sports. “Every situation is sort of unique, but this is a more unique one than I’ve seen in a while where there’s been a lot of communication back and forth on this particular part, especially for this racetrack because they did a parity test in the wind tunnel.
“I think it really opened up the door for some miscommunication. I don’t want to go any further than that. We’ll continue to just share all the facts and be transparent with NASCAR as we have been so far.”
Even though the hood louvers were confiscated on Friday afternoon, it did not seem to have an effect on the team’s on-track performance.
Byron won his second consecutive Cup race on Sunday with Larson finishing fourth, Bowman ninth and Berry 10th respectively.
NASCAR announced additional penalties on Wednesday.
Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin was slapped with a $50,000 fine and the loss of 25 championship driver points after the sanctioning body said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver violated section 4.4 NASCAR Member Code of Conduct of the rule book for “attempting to manipulate the outcome of the race or championship.”
During his podcast earlier this week, Hamlin admitted that he intentionally made contact with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain during the final laps of Sunday’s race at Phoenix.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 10 Cup pit crew members Sean Cotten and Ryan Mulder have been suspended from the next two Cup races after driver Aric Almirola lost a tire during Sunday’s Cup race at Phoenix.
Also, Joshua Creech received a behavioral penalty from NASCAR triggering a $25,000 fine and an indefinite suspension.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email: [email protected]
