October 4, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

In February, Jeff Gordon won the dual 150-mile qualifier race for the Daytona 500. On post-race inspection, NASCAR officials found Gordon’s No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet to be too low on the rear. At Daytona and Talladega, lowering the rear of the car gets the spoiler out of the air and thereby reduces aerodynamic drag and makes the car faster. So, the racing world waited for a serious penalty. Gordon’s team quickly claimed it was not intentional and that apparently a race team mechanic has “accidentally” mounted a shock on the corner of the car wrong and it caused the car to be lower than the required minimum height. NASCAR responded by disallowing the qualifying results and sent the No. 24 for the rear of the field for the start of the Daytona 500. The following Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR official Robin Pemberton announced that there would be no points or monetary punishment for Gordon’s team because NASCAR was convinced the infraction was unintentional. Many other teams commented they wished that line of thinking worked with the State Patrol because they would get out of a lot of speeding tickets if they were “unintentionally speeding”. All other teams that were caught in violation of NASCAR rules at Daytona were hit with monetary fines, point fines, and several crew chiefs were suspended. Remember, this was at a track where having the rear of the car is an advantage.

In March, Greg Biffle’s No. 16 was found to be too low in the rear during post-race inspection at Bristol Motor Speedway. NASCAR impounded the car and took it back to their research and development center in Mooresville, North Carolina for analysis. On Monday afternoon, NASCAR declared that no illegal adjustments had been made to the car and returned it to Roush Fenway Racing, and announced there would be no penalty issued to the team despite the car was lower than the minimum height rule.

In July, Johnny Sauter and Kyle Busch’s cars were both found too low in post-race inspection after the race at New Hampshire. Both teams were fined 25 points and $25,000.

Fast forward to last weekend. Carl Edwards won at Dover and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford was found to be too low in the right-rear during post-race inspection. On Tuesday NASCAR announced that Edwards would be penalized 25 points and fined $25,000. Officials commented that despite the fact the infraction was not advantageous to the team, NASCAR had to be consistent in its enforcement of the rules and the associated penalties.

This week, Ryan Newman qualified on the outside of the front row but during post-qualifying inspection, Newman’s No.12 Dodge was found to be too low at the roof and too high on the right-rear. Newman’s qualifying time was thrown out and Newman was relegated to starting 42nd. The racing world will wait until Tuesday to find out if NASCAR will fine the No. 12 team.

NASCAR officials now have themselves in a quandary. They have penalized teams points and cash for being too low in races since July. But, Jeff Gordon got away with being too low while qualifying for the Daytona 500. His only punishment was starting at the tail of the field – no points or monetary fines were handed down. Newman was sent to the rear of the field for the start of Sunday’s race. If NASCAR hands the No. 12 team a points and monetary fine on Tuesday, they come off looking like they are playing favorites to Gordon, something many have hinted at over the years. If they do not announce additional penalties to Newman, they come off looking like they are saying you can get away with being too low in qualifying, just not the race. Which would be all fine and good until you consider there were crew chiefs suspended from the sport over qualifying infractions at Daytona. Dale Jr.’s crew chief was suspended for failing PRE-qualifying inspection at Darlington.

NASCAR has struggled over the years with consistent enforcement of the rules, and it appears that they still do not have a firm handle on consistency. Attempting to determine teams intentions with infractions was a mistake on NASCAR’s part. Gordon should have been penalized at Daytona. Biffle should have been penalized at Bristol. If there is a rule in the book and the car is found to be outside of the boundaries of a rule, be it qualifying or in the race, the rules should be enforced and punishments should be equally handed down.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.