NASCAR Puts Their Perrenial Foot Down, Sticks it to Haas CNC
Image details: Coca-Cola 600 Practice served by picapp.com
The NASCAR Commission announced on Tuesday their ruling on the appeal from Haas CNC Racing and their decision to uphold the penalties handed out for violations incurred at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Coca Cola 600. During practice for the race, NASCAR officials confiscated both of the team’s cars - the #66 driven by Scott Riggs and the #70, which at the time was driven by Johnny Sauter - for violations of the upper rear wing mounting points.
NASCAR docked both drivers 150 driver points and car owners, Jack Custer and Margaret Haas, 150 owner points. They also suspended both Crew Chiefs, Bootie Barker and David Skog, as well as both Car Chiefs for the duration of six races and fined each Crew Chief $100,000. NASCAR has also kept both of the cars that they confiscated at Lowe’s and has sent them to their R&D Center in Concord, NC.
Haas CNC was not appealing the infractions themselves, but rather the severity of the penalties, which is regarded as the most severe penalties in the history of the sport. It has been a trend in NASCAR over the past two seasons that they continue to hand out stiffer and stiffer fines and penalties the more teams continue to get caught with such infractions, particularly pertaining to any alterations to the body of the car itself, which is something NASCAR was very adament about when they first launched the Car of Tomorrow program. This should send a loud and clear message to the teams in the NASCAR garage area, and it’s not likely that we’ll see Haas CNC making any further alterations anytime soon.
Tags: bootie barker, coca cola 600, david skog, haas cnc racing, jack custer, johnny sauter, lowe's motor speedway, margaret haas, NASCAR, scott riggs, Sprint Cup SeriesRelated Stories
POSTED IN: NASCAR
5 opinions for NASCAR Puts Their Perrenial Foot Down, Sticks it to Haas CNC
Ron Ripple
Jun 11, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Yeah I heard about this yesterday and was glad tos ee they kept the penalties. I don’t think anyone should try and get an edge over the competition if it means stepping over the legal lines.
Ron Ripple
Adam C
Jun 11, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Good. They get what they deserve for cheating. Maybe next time theyll think first.
Tim Zaegel
Jun 11, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Ron, I agree for the most part, but crossing the “legal” lines technically happens all the time in NASCAR. This instance was different, though, because they were making cosmetic alterations to the car, which NASCAR says is a huge “no, no”.
What baffles me is why they would do it to both cars in the same week. I mean, NASCAR’s been coming down hard on these teams when they catch them pulling crap like this, so it’s really not a big surprise that they upped the ante on the penalties - especially since neither car was a Chase contender.
TrackHazard4Real
Jun 12, 2008 at 9:41 am
That’s tough man. Only one way to learn and that’s the hard way. Good gouge.
Tim Zaegel
Jun 12, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Agreed.
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