Bowyer penalized 150 point

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VaDirt

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National Speed Sport News:

NASCAR has fined driver Clint Bowyer 150 championship points, fined crew chief Shane Wilson $150,000 and suspended him for the next six races alongside car chief Chad Haney after discovering the car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis on the No. 33 Chevrolet did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications after the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday. Full story coming shortly
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I guess it was more than just "close."
 
Wow that is bad ....after winning, hmm no wonder car was good, but take that kind of chance in the chase pretty stupid.
 
MRM said:
No, this was the Loudon car. Word is some of the body mounts on the chassis were not in the specified locations.
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Thanks --- that really was stupid at work. Cut it close with the Richmond car and try even harder with the Loudon car.

Come to think of it --- stupid doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Thanks --- that really was stupid at work. Cut it close with the Richmond car and try even harder with the Loudon car.

Come to think of it --- stupid doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.
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Yep. They work that hard to make the Chase then they blow away their Championship chances in round 1.
 
Warned about the Richmond car and then they do this with the car for Loudon. Beyond stupid!!!
 
Wow, thats too bad. What an idiotic thing to do, Clint can't be happy with his team right now.
 
Whoa ! The Richmond car passed inspection. They probably thought that this one would too. Why would they think otherwise? Sounds like Monday morning quarterbacking to me.
 
Time to pay the fiddler.

•NASCAR looking at Bowyer's New Hampshire car: UPDATES: Two people familiar with the inspection process say NASCAR is taking a closer look at Clint Bowyer's race-winning car from New Hampshire. The #33 Chevy passed its initial inspection following Sunday's victory, but the people familiar with the situation say NASCAR discovered issues with the car in a more thorough inspection at its research and development center. They requested anonymity because the car is still being inspected. On Tuesday, NASCAR told RCR officials that Bowyer's chase-clinching car from Richmond came very close to failing inspection. Though NASCAR does not typically strip wins from drivers, a car that fails inspection would lead to a significant points penalty. Bowyer's wins pushed him to second from 12th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, 35 points behind leader Denny Hamlin.(Associated Press/ESPN.com)(9-22-2010)
UPDATE: NASCAR has issued penalties, suspensions and fines as a result of rules infractions discovered this week during post-race inspection at the NASCAR Research and Development Center following last Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The #33 team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-3 (car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications) of the 2010 NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, crew chief Shane Wilson has been fined $150,000, suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events, suspended from NASCAR until Nov. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Car chief Chad Haney has also been suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events, suspended from NASCAR until Nov. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Driver Clint Bowyer and owner Richard Childress have been penalized with the loss of 150 championship driver and owner points, respectively. (NASCAR), the penalty drops Bowyer from 2nd in the driver point standings to 12th.(9-22-2010)
UPDATE 2: RCR Statement: "First of all, I'd like to apologize to our sponsors, our fans and everyone at RCR for the situation that has resulted from this ruling. RCR has a long-standing reputation of integrity on and off the race track. We pride ourselves on working within the rules established by the sanctioning body. NASCAR informed us after the Richmond race that we were very close to their maximum tolerances. They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Center after that race. It doesn't make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn't within NASCAR's tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required by NASCAR. We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than 1/16 of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner's circle. The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That's the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR's ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be."(RCR)(9-22-2010)
 
Interesting statement by RCR. I'm sure he doesn't have a chance in heck with the appeal but this could get good.
 
We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than 1/16 of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner's circle. The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That's the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR's ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be."(RCR)(9-22-2010)
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Strange. Robin Pemeberton said on NASCAR NOW said the body passed inspection and the chassis passed --- it was the way/points the body was hung on the chassis that didn't meet specs.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
Strange. Robin Pemeberton said on NASCAR NOW said the body passed inspection and the chassis passed --- it was the way/points the body was hung on the chassis that didn't meet specs.
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Robin Pemberton and Ray Evernham talking about guys cheating -- that was rich!! They were two of the most, uh, "creative minds" in their time.:D
 
If it was indeed just .060 out of tolerrance that isn't much, and could of been caused by what Richard said. If I were him I'd appeal too.
 
I'm certain if nascar looks hard enough, they can come up with some dirt on any car in the field.
MoMike
 
MoMike said:
I'm certain if nascar looks hard enough, they can come up with some dirt on any car in the field.
MoMike
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Yep agreed, if the 33 hadn't won the race we wouldn't be talking about this.
 
Mopardh9 said:
If it was indeed just .060 out of tolerrance that isn't much, and could of been caused by what Richard said. If I were him I'd appeal too.
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has anyone ever won an appeal?
 
I'm a fan of RCR but you are pretty stupid when you know for a fact the car will be checked and you still cheat.
 
Am I understanding it wrong? Didn't the 33 have the same thing pass at Richmond? If so then why is it wrong now?
 
If you aint cheating you aint winning. I'd like to see what nascar missed on everybody else.
 
kkfan91 said:
has anyone ever won an appeal?
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Yes, several times. Not nearly as many as have lost but that probably goes without saying. As of March 8th, 2010.....

"During the last eight years, there have been 102 appeal hearings," Silbermann said. "Sixty-eight of those, the decision was to uphold the original penalty that was issued by NASCAR, which I think speaks very well to the job that the officials are doing. Twenty-four decisions were to reduce the penalty or in some way amend it. Eight decisions were to completely overturn the penalty and, actually, a ninth one was later overturned by our national commissioner."

The commission also has the right to increase the penalty, which has happened twice during Silbermann's tenure.
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A long read but lots of detail on this process here.....

The Commission: Inside NASCAR's appeals system
 
chromehorn said:
Am I understanding it wrong? Didn't the 33 have the same thing pass at Richmond? If so then why is it wrong now?
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:beerbang:I don't think that it was the same car,so what does Richmond have to do with it anyway? The car passed pre and post race inspections. The tiny infraction was found with a micrometer at the r&d center.
 
The Richmond car did pass inspection, but the same issue with that car was the same issue with the Loudon car. It was the mounting points of the body onto the chassis. That one happened to pass (within tolerance) where this one didn't. They were told to fix it and apparently did not fix it.

I'm like some of the others. How did it pass pre-race inspection and not pass post-race inspection?
 
Mopardh9 said:
If it was indeed just .060 out of tolerance that isn't much, and could of been caused by what Richard said. If I were him I'd appeal too.
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Yea, that's like appealing to St Peter when God has condemned you to Hell. :eek:
 
If anyone out there is interested, nascar.com is webcasting the Chase driver interviews from Dover. Boywer has not been on yet. So far, I've only listened to Jeff Gordon. He was asked about his thoughts on the penalty as I'm sure each of the drivers will be. Webcast Link - Click here.
 
Bowyer says.....

He feels NASCAR was pressured into making this call because of rumors that spread starting Monday.

He said that most any car would fail that inspection @ R&D.

He said that his win is tarnished.

He questioned the shock incident on the other two cars that eventually passed inspection after cooling down.

He said that the quarter panel was split from being hit.

He said that was a "Freightliner' that was pushing his car, no wonder it was out of shape.

He said the problem was fixed on the Louden car after the info from Richmond.

He said that he is frustrated with the situation and that this is taking away from Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton's efforts because of the distraction.

And he's now gone.
 
NASCAR won’t inspect more Chase cars after races despite Clint Bowyer violation

NASCAR has considered taking all 12 Chase For The Sprint Cup cars following each race for more thorough inspections, but hasn’t seen widespread issues that would require such extensive follow-up, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday.

NASCAR takes the race-winning car and at least one other car to its research and development center in North Carolina after every race to make sure the car and how the body sits on the frame meets NASCAR regulations.

It was in that inspection at the research and the development center that it found the race-winning car of Clint Bowyer to be illegal on Wednesday, three days after he won the first Chase race at New Hampshire. The failure of his car has prompted talk that NASCAR should take more Chase cars, and possibly all 12, following each event in the Chase.

“We’ve done several hundred cars, and if a team has an issue, problem or [is] headed in the wrong direction, we talk about it and they go fix the problem,” Pemberton said prior to practice Friday at Dover International Speedway. “We haven’t had anything [illegal] in almost two years and that was light sheet metal.

“We haven’t really had a problem. … If someday it winds up being there, fine. But right now our processes work quite well. We feel like the majority of the garage has done things correctly. From time to time, we find things that are not out of the box but are to the zero-margin. It hasn’t been an epidemic in any way shape or form.”

The equipment used to conduct the complicated frame inspections cannot easily be moved to the track and that’s one of the reasons why it is done at the research center. The plates the cars sit on during the inspection weigh thousands pounds and all of the equipment would need to be recalibrated if moved off site, Pemberton said. He said there are no plans to try to do those inspections at the Chase-determining race at Richmond nor the season finale at Homestead.

NASCAR opts to do the inspections a day or two following an event, which means that a penalty – such as the 150-point penalty to Bowyer and six-week suspension for his crew chief – is not determined until two or three days after the race.

If the Bowyer violation had occurred during a regular-season race on a winning car, the driver would not receive the 10 bonus points for the win if he made the Chase, Pemberton said. That would be similar to the penalty issued to Carl Edwards for an unattached oil tank cover violation following his win at Las Vegas in 2008.

Pemberton would not talk specifically about the Bowyer car because of the pending appeal, which Pemberton anticipated would be in the next week. He said that most of the tolerances of the measurements taken of the frame are 70-thousands of an inch. Team owner Richard Childress has said the team was over the tolerance by 60-thousands of an inch.

Whether the violation could have just been a simple mistake, Pemberton wouldn’t say.

“The body fit [the templates]. It wasn’t an illegal body, it wasn’t an illegal chassis, but it was the marriage of the two,” Pemberton said. “The body was fine, the chassis was fine. They just didn’t go together.

“It’s not for us to say the intent or anything like that.”

Pemberton said Bowyer’s team took its Dover car to the research center Wednesday and had it measured.

“We just did the measurement for them – what they do with them is up to them,” Pemberton said. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to past postrace [inspection]. When it’s out of our custody, it’s out of our custody. We did that favor so they could go back and review the numbers.”
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I believe what he's saying but sad thing is I think the appeals board doesn't have the balls to overturn NASCARs ruling.The only thing that will come out of this will be no more congradulatory bumps and if your car runs out of gas your crew has to push it to victory lane.Remember when they used to jump on the roof of the car to celebrate a victory?
 
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