March 5, 2012
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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One of the biggest stories prior to the Daytona 500 was when the news that the No. 48 car of Jimmie Johnson failed to pass inspection because the c-posts of the car had been modified.
This past week, NASCAR handed down fines to the team that were surprisingly harsh.
Crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were slapped with six week suspensions. Knaus was fined $100,000 and the team was docked 25 driver points and 25 owner points.
Knaus was on the pit box this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway because the penalties are currently under appeal.
For a team that wrecked on the second lap and finished the Daytona 500 in 42nd place, losing an additional 25 points puts Johnson in a very deep hole. When combined with the fact that he might not have his crew chief for six weeks, Johnson's season may well be over before it even starts.
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon believed the penalties to be quite strong.
"It seems to me to be sending a stronger message than I think needed to be sent. I really felt like what they went through at Daytona was a lot," Gordon said during a press conference at Phoenix International Raceway. "To cut those C-posts off, rebuild the car practically from that side of it -- I thought that was tough enough in itself. I was surprised at how stiff that penalty was, but I’m glad that we’re going to appeal it. I feel like there’s reason to appeal it and we’ll just wait and see what happens with that."
According to Chad Knaus, the infraction was determined though a visual inspection.
"It was all visual. The templates were never actually put on the car. It was a visual inspection at that point," Knaus said at a press conference. "We never even got the opportunity to actually present that under templates.
"It is unfortunate, there is a bit of subjectiveness to it and that is why we are going through the appeal."
It seems quite shocking that NASCAR would levy such severe fines based on nothing more than a visual inspection. Chad Knaus has a history of pushing the limits of what NASCAR allows. He's been caught before and penalized. Could NASCAR be punishing the No. 48 team because of past infractions? Would the penalties be so severe if it were the first offense?
Both Knaus and Rick Hendrick have stated that the configuration that failed inspection at Daytona is the same that was used in all four restrictor plate races last year and has already passed inspection. If that is the case, why would it suddenly fail at Daytona on nothing more than a visual inspection?
At the very least, the templates should have been put on the car so that the infraction could have been measured. Instead, the c-posts were cut off of the car. So how is anyone going to know if the No. 48 car actually failed the inspection when nothing was measured?
It's absurd that NASCAR would hand out such stiff penalties without having physical evidence to back it up. Is Knaus being fined because a car that reportedly passed inspection at least four times suddenly failed, or is he being fined for being Chad Knaus?
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