CHARLOTTE - NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said he wasn't sure exactly when the illegal brackets got on the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. car, but he knows one thing for sure: They didn't match the brackets that were supposed to be on the car during prerace inspection May 12 at Darlington Raceway.
NASCAR suspended crew chief Tony Eury Jr. through the race at Infineon Speedway (six points races), fined him $100,000 and docked Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100 driver points and the team 100 owner points.
The team had said in a statement that they used some old pieces that were used in the development of the car and will appeal the severity of the penalty.
"It was just wrong," Pemberton said Wednesday prior to the Nextel Pit Crew Challenge. "I can't weigh in whether I thought it was intentional. There's no such thing as an old piece. This car isn't that old to have a lot of old pieces laying around."
The car got through pre-qualifying inspection but did not get through prerace inspection. Could the team have changed the brackets between those inspection times?
"I doubt that because they were sealed on the car in the right positions," Pemberton said. "What brought it to light was the fact of the extreme wing angle in prerace inspection. I don't know [how it was done]. All I know is that it was wrong. ... We'll see what comes out of this as far as our procedures."
NASCAR had warned teams not to mess with the car of tomorrow, but Pemberton said this was part of the ramped up penalties that started at Daytona earlier this year.
"We had warned people for the entire year," Pemberton said. "This falls in line with everything we've done since the beginning of the season."
Eury Jr., who would miss six points races plus the all-star event because of the suspension, can attend the all-star race this weekend because the case is under appeal. If he loses the appeal, NASCAR likely won't shoot for a seven-race suspension.
"Six points races ... was what we were shooting for," Pemberton said. "This [weekend] just happened to fall into that [time frame]."
NASCAR suspended crew chief Tony Eury Jr. through the race at Infineon Speedway (six points races), fined him $100,000 and docked Dale Earnhardt Jr. 100 driver points and the team 100 owner points.
The team had said in a statement that they used some old pieces that were used in the development of the car and will appeal the severity of the penalty.
"It was just wrong," Pemberton said Wednesday prior to the Nextel Pit Crew Challenge. "I can't weigh in whether I thought it was intentional. There's no such thing as an old piece. This car isn't that old to have a lot of old pieces laying around."
The car got through pre-qualifying inspection but did not get through prerace inspection. Could the team have changed the brackets between those inspection times?
"I doubt that because they were sealed on the car in the right positions," Pemberton said. "What brought it to light was the fact of the extreme wing angle in prerace inspection. I don't know [how it was done]. All I know is that it was wrong. ... We'll see what comes out of this as far as our procedures."
NASCAR had warned teams not to mess with the car of tomorrow, but Pemberton said this was part of the ramped up penalties that started at Daytona earlier this year.
"We had warned people for the entire year," Pemberton said. "This falls in line with everything we've done since the beginning of the season."
Eury Jr., who would miss six points races plus the all-star event because of the suspension, can attend the all-star race this weekend because the case is under appeal. If he loses the appeal, NASCAR likely won't shoot for a seven-race suspension.
"Six points races ... was what we were shooting for," Pemberton said. "This [weekend] just happened to fall into that [time frame]."
