#24, #48, Hendrick fined, crew chiefs suspended, points taken for Sonoma violation
Quote selected text Published June 26th, 2007 in NASCAR News
NASCAR has issued penalties and fines to the #24 and #48 Hendrick Motorsports teams that compete in the Nextel Cup Series, as a result of rule infractions found this past weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
Both cars, the #24 driven by Jeff Gordon and the #48 driven by Jimmie Johnson, were found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); 20-2.1E (parts or components of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that have been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted); and 20-2H (fenders may not be cut or altered except for wheel or tire clearance which must be approved by the Series Director) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book.
The violations were found during the initial inspection process last Friday. As a result, Gordon and Johnson have each been penalized 100 driver championship points. Their respective crew chiefs, Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus, have each been fined $100,000, suspended for the next six Nextel Cup Series events until Aug. 15, 2007 and placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2007. In addition, Rick Hendrick, owner of the #24, has been penalized 100 car owner championship points as has Gordon, who is the owner of the #48.
[NASCAR]
- NASCAR hands down more suspensions, fines in Truck Series
- More crew chiefs fined at Daytona
- Hendrick crew chief fined for Busch Series violation
- NASCAR strips team of East Series victory due to violation
- Busch crew chief fined by NASCAR
Good job NASCAR!! make this the IROC series woohoo. This penalty
is rediculous for something that is purely human error.
Atleast im commenting before all the Hendrick conspiratists
announce their victory.
From IRLs new fan
Given the fact that JJ and Gordon are well within the top 12 and how utterly stupid the Chase and Nascar’s point system are…..how cares? It won’t matter at the end of the year.
Gordon finished 7th in the race anyway.
Nascar did the right thing for a change, they showed some consistancy this time but I still think they blew it on the Kurt Busch deal.
NASCAR sucks.. Top 12, Toyota, Car of Trash. They just lost a fan.
Anyone want Brickyard Tickets?
NASCAR is turning nextel cup into the IROC
series. And the penalty against the 24/48 is rediculous.
No practice/qualify
100,000k
100 points
6 race suspension
for an offense that was purely human error
Screw you NASCAR
I guess finally a little consistency. Does Chad Knaus get to keep a full year’s pay even though it seems like he takes 6 races off at least a year due to suspensions?
well i am glad to see this.. glad to see there was no favoritism shown to them.. it was still messing with a cot car! and they know they were not suppose to! and i still say if they were able to get away with it the other 2 cars would of had it done for the next one.. they used those to {i think} to see cuz it dosent matter that much in the points standing if they loose some.. but the other 2 cars would of been hurt by it!!
ya’ll are a bunch of hypocrits. now people will shut up and stop say nascars is kissing butt to HMS. HMS just has a good race program this year, i hate jimmie but like gordon and hate to see them both suffer for what their crew did not them. ohh well it was bound to happen.
DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Thats huge!
Andrew how is it Human Error when 2 cars from the same team are found in violation? That seems as if they were trying
to get something by NASCAR. I might have believed it was a team error if all 4 cars had it!
Out of curiosity who really pays the fines? Hendrick? Or do the drivers and the chiefs actually pay them?
Hey Andrew afterv seeing that IRL only had 19 cars at Iowa last sunday I dont think it is worth watching as for your Brickyard tickets how many do you have and were are they at on the track?
All these teams are rich and a little money or missing a crew chief still isn’t going to stop all this. Nascar needs to sit the entire team for a race or two to get their point across. They are millionaires and 100,000 is like a 100 to the common folk. The crew chief may not be at the track but know they aren’t to far away!!! Nascar quit be a chicken and sit these teams!!!
Thank God NASCAR finally got one right!
I like JG just fine so this isn’t some anti-Hendrick thing, but what they did is no different from what DEI did, and probably a more serious offense in most people’s eyes. If you’re going to bang Eury Jr and DEI, you HAVE to show some level of consistency and do the same to the Hendrick guys.
Maybe one day teams will get the picture. If you watched Inside Nextel Cup last night, Waltrip said NASCAR gave every single team CAD drawings with coordinates and everything for the CoT. I don’t think they did all that just for the heck of it. Sure, people are going to fudge the rules and I’m all for a little ingenuity, but in the words of Charlie Murphy, Chad Knaus is a “habitual line stepper”. I’m glad to see they fairly punished these two on the same lines that they punished Eury earlier.
-Jeff
Being a JJ and Hendrick fan…fine we’ll take it. Rather than piss and moan
about a fine, some points, and a suspension, I’ll be happy to see them get on
with racing! Deal with it…haters!
terri said it right! if they bench the team you will see less cheaters!
Rick Hindrick even said they were trying to work in what they thought was a gray area, in which I dont blame them for , to stay ahead of or catch up with the other teams everyone has to try to find new ways to improve ther cars . It does worry me that nascar is not giving the teams any wiggle room, that is going to make it more like IROC but it is the same for all the teams, there all working from the same rule book , so it Seems to me to be a fair penility
nascar is screwin up racing lets go back to the hay day when men raced to win , and could do things in the gray are to get an edge . ive watch every race that was on tv from about 72 but nascar can kiss my ass with there fines . racing is not even worth watching any more i think ill go scuba diving sat and sunday, at least ill get something for my money . so see ya nascar you lost a long time fan. half you people on here do not have a clue how nascar was when i started watching it, now its in the shit hole.
Andrew, how can you say what they did was just human error. Both Chad and Steve said they did it on purpose and they “ASSumed” that it would be ok with NASCAR. Every team at the beginning of the year was told that COT penalties would start at 100/100/100K so they should have expected nothing less, just as Tony Jr. got.
After looking at the points I must say this penility hurts Jimmie alot more than jeff, Jeff is still in 1st. place 719 points ahead of 13th. place Ryan Newman which means Jeff would have to loose 72 points to Ryan or anyone behind Ryan to get out of the top 12, that is very, very unlikely to happen which means he will still start the chase with 40 bonis points for his wins, tied for first with Jimmie (if he makes it). Jimmie on the other hand is only 353 ahead of Ryan so if he looses 36 points a race average to Ryan or anyone behind him he would be out of the chase and with out Chad that could happen, so in theroy Hindrick needs to put his best “Back up” crew chief on Jimmies team and hope he finishes the next 10 races in at least 12th. place in the points, then the 100 point penility wont have ment crap to him eather. I still cant belive Kurt Busch got the same penility for almost hitting humans on pit road!!!
Jeff can still win without his crew chief, hes done it with others, as for the penalties i agree even im a hendrick fan, but i dont get why chad is only for six races it should be more becuase its not the first time hes had infractions with the 48 car. it should be a yr. well 100 points gone but since the chase format is changed, jeff can still keep a huge lead in the standings
wow, some consistency. Finally. What happened NASCAR? I can’t believe that it wasn’t just
swept under the rug like the Kurt Bush thing.
Although, to be fair, the 48 team should have taken a harder hit. Isn’t like the 6th or
7th time they have been caught cheating?
I AGREE WITH U HOPPYGIRL
Well,well,well…Nascar is trying to play fair finally ! Lets face it …they really didn’t have a choice ! Not after they what they done to Jr. ! Don’t think for a minute that Knaus and Latarte are’nt going to be working with the drivers! They all need to sit out of racing for awhile ! Thats the ONLY thing thats going to get their ATTENTION ! Are the fans ( who spend their hard earned money at the races )the only ones that know this ? No kudos for Nascar !
Maybe Tony Stewart was right………..NASCAR is like Professional Wrestling…..or maybe not as honest.
It’s starting to get boring and predictable.
I’m sure Chad Knaus is somewhere thinking up his next adventure and how not to be “caught”.
Yup….the penalties announced today really scared him a lot.
NASCAR needs to grow a set !
andrew.. human error? wtf? THEY KNEW THEY WERE DOING IT AND THEY DID IT ON PURPOSE!!!!
HMS deserved it.
Give me a break!!!You guys wanna complain about the penalty not being harsh enough?It’s the
same penalty everyone else gets and it’s absolutely fair.
nascar got somthin rite for once. dont matter wat they did rong they did it an they get the same penalty. 100 points 100 grand an no crew chiefs for 6 weeks. they do need to do somthin bout cha k cheatin all the time.
Hahaha. I think when some of you say you’re not going to bitch and moan you really are doing what you said you wouldn’t.
Just be happy that they were consistent for once. The balance has returned to the force… Ahhhhh. If I had known NASCAR was going to do things correctly with the CoT I wouldn’t have been upset about Junior’s penalty a few weeks back. This is really almost the exact same situation. “Gray areas”, “mistakes”, or possibly an out right attempt to cheat. Teams better watch what they’re doing in the shop or get even more covert with bending the rules.
Its funny they thought they were working in a “gray area” and only made this modification to two cars. Kinda makes you go, “hmmmmm.” It seems like when ever HMS cars get busted they’re always in pairs, but no more than two have the mods.
NASCAR wants competition to be in the hands of the drivers and the setup as it relates to the chasis at the track, not engineers and technology. Sounds like they’re working on becoming a real sport to me.
all this was was a slap on the wrist.if nascar wasnt ran by a bunch of clowns then they may have gone and suspended the drivers, ppl were saying suspend kurt for the pit road for risking life, i no its proble wouldnt happen but changing stuff with the car who knows wut could have happen.and if your gunna do anything to try to get the point across tell them that your taking it when the chase starts bc we all no that 100 points are huge
Andrew
Jun 26th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Good job NASCAR!! make this the IROC series woohoo. This penalty
is rediculous for something that is purely human error.
Atleast im commenting before all the Hendrick conspiratists
announce their victory.
From IRLs new fan
I dont know about the human error part . I do agree with the rest . I am an aquired JR fan. The offficals seem to be going crazy with this sh*t . I mean all that money suspensions . Racing has always been about pushing every single possible 1% option for horsepower and speed including areo fast down force etc. I have to think it is even possible in any camp to screw up. SO IROC no cursing corparate correctness racing they should give out lolly pops to all the fans . STUPID In all pro sports there is give and take. The officials in ball games try to differenciate between all the B>S
There should be a bunch of variables . More tire options , more engine carb options and gear options. This way it will make it more interesting . Let em try to out guess each other instead of making all the cars identical templets with different store bought emblem stickers and factory headlight stickers . I think if u had all the makes in primer the average fan could not tell a ford from a chevy or toyota. Enough b. s.. the drama continues
Posted under anonymous be accident . GO IROC>
i think it is good that nascar has handed this down to hms they are finaly being correct in what they do with there suspensions and fines. im a dale jr fan and all he had was a wing bracet wrong taht did absoultly nothing to the way the car drove or handled and he got a 6 week suspension and 100k and 100 driver points. its only right hms got what they got they were messing with something they new was not alowed and it changed the way the car would have drove more downforce on the nose of the car. so its only right they got what they got
Is this the same penalty for Busch almost running someone over in the pits ? and Jrs spoiler > how can they be the same or similar ????????
Can you blame them for trying to make this car go, i mean come on it’s like watching a herd of turtles.
lol George Thompson, I do admit it’s getting boring to watch. At least the suspensions keep things
interesting!
Maybe Nascar should make cheaters sit out a race or two and see what happens then. Maybe there would not be so many repeat offenders. As my mother used to say ” Make a believer of them”.
I am tired of the same crew cheifs cheating over and over again.
Axel:
“Ahhhhh. If I had known NASCAR was going to do things correctly with the CoT I wouldn’t have been upset about Junior’s penalty a few weeks back.”
you are such a wishy washy NASCAR fan! just trust in your sport or don’t watch. like it or don’t
“well.. if i would have KNOWN that NASCAR weren’t cheaters or favoring then i wouldnt have been beating them senseless for being cheaterslast week.”
give me a break..
gordon fan ^^^
Speaking of which, where is Nascarfan4life? Seems he should be posting something here. After
he finishes crying. Or maybe (hopefully) he is finally speechless.
please, this is just another slap on the wrist. The butt buddies got away with something else again, wow
Gordon lost 100 points, wow he still has over a 100 point lead. Johnson isn’t even close to falling out of the
top 12 with that penalty. I’ve had enough of this PC series. Y’all won’t catch me watchin anymore races,
NASCAR has just lost an old fan for being pussies when it comes to everything, not just this.
Cheatin Chad is a good name for Chad Knaus!!! He should be suspended for longer than 6 week or even better fined for alot more than he has. He can’t seem to get it through his thick scull!!!! Once a cheater always a cheater!!
Just wait and see…someone is going to cheat again and not get caught, then watch someone get killed on the track because of the stupidity of a crew chief. Then the blank will hit the fan! It can only get worse before it gets better.
iwood since u mentioned that chad should get fired, hes cheated too many times with the 48 car. well this will be old news in a few days.
I posted this in another story but it fits so true to this one. HoppyGirlllll here is the answer to Chads cheating history. Also just to note there are 2 more times he cheated while he was crew chief for Stacy Compton. But the list is only since he has been with Johnson.
Chad’s cheating record:
July 11, 2002: Fined $25,000 for having improperly installed mounting bolts. The team also was docked 25 championship points and 25 owner points.
May 21, 2003: Fined $1,000 for using an unapproved air-directional device during NASCAR’s All-Star race.
May 27, 2003: Fined $2,500 for using an unapproved refrigerant.
March 15, 2005: Suspended two races and fined $35,000 because Johnson’s race-winning car failed to meet the minimum height requirement during post-race inspection at Las Vegas. The team also was docked 25 championship points, which knocked Johnson out of the points lead.
Sept. 30, 2005: NASCAR changes a rule regarding shock absorbers after Knaus exploited a loophole that caused Johnson’s car to fail post-race inspection at Dover International Speedway.
Feb. 13, 2006: Suspended from the Daytona 500 for raising the rear window on Johnson’s car to alter the aerodynamics during the team’s qualifying run.
June. 26, 2007: Fined $100,000 and suspended six races for modified to enhance aerodynamic performance of fenders.
It’s too bad some rich race fun couldn’t start another stock car series because WWNascar sucks! It’s also too bad the TV stations don’t air some of the other racing that goes on around this country instead of repeating the same race over or all these boring nascar talk shows over and over. Some good dirt track racing would be nice.
About 7 years ago, Cale Yarborough, a former governor of South Carolina and a few others were going to start the TRAC Stock Car Series. They were going to have teams and playoffs. That was a few years before ” The Chase” was even mentioned! They were going to have regional deals and drivers. Then NASCAR lowered the boom by telling track owners with Cup dates that they would lose them if they let this new group race at the same facilities. Suddenly there was no or little interest and we never heard about that project again.
i thought they would have learn the rules by now!!
i also say bring back the racing that it use to be, no rules, nothing but just die hard racing . darn if you hit someone and they hit you back cause they were mad they would get out and whoop butt, now thats entertainment..
Wow, so that’s NINE TIMES (best Ferris Bueller’s day off principal voice) that he has been
caught and he still has a job? I wonder how many times he hasn’t been caught? Kinda makes
it seem like the championship last year was tainted!
Thanks for the info Mike!!!
It’s funny how the driver is the public focal point of any team. (When was the last time you saw a Chad Knaus action figure or a Tony Eury Jr sticker) but as soon as there is an issue, the CC is the one fined and suspended.
In the sport I love, dirt track racing, (yes, it has become a different sport now), rules anywhere you go in the country state that the driver is responsible for any and all actions of their crew.
Make the driver accountable too. I like the idea of the car sitting out a race or two as well. Again, if a team is punished in DTR, the car sits out.
If you want to make a statement, make one.
Paul
you all no jeff gordon is awsome so is jimmie johnson and caarl edwards but you dont see the point jeff and jimmie a rule jeff is still poiints leader and jimmie johnson still will catch up in points becayuse hes awsome
they rule they came in the top ten from last place
To: jeffgordonjimmiejohnsoncarledwardsrulethe99,48,24…
????? Did you have your coffee yet?
what hapen to stock car raceing? no fun any more. big wheels keep rollen in the bucks.
Andrew how is it Human Error when 2 cars from the same team are found in violation?”
BECAUSE the Hendrick has 2 shops..the 24/48 are together in one andd the 5/25 in the other. The people who build the cars for the 24 are the same people who build the 48s cars. Therefore they just made a human error.
And gkirb
IRL lets the racers race, NASCAR is a big politics game which completley defeats the purpose of racing. IRL is real racing, even if their is only 19 cars. Its still 2 times better than DRAMA filled nASCAr
And they are frontstretch towards turn 1 on the outside of the track.
I think that these blogs should have an automatic spell check.
Do thay i Culnt say.
ok… everytime that Knauss was suspended, it was error… raising the rear window? that was a bolt that wasn’t tightened enough…
screw nascar… i’m goin to Lancaster… its non-sanctioned so the Street stock cars can do mostly whatever they want. ANY nascar track is being killed with rules
BethStocker, how is that wishy washy? I stand firm in my stance on NASCAR as an organization. There has been no reason to trust them in this century. Why would I blindly follow them with no skepticism?
They did the right thing in this case. They’re doing what they said they would do with the COT coming into effect. I congratulate them. Now, if they can just keep it up.
I like racing even if I don’t like the companies who produce it. The only other thing I could do would be to pick races on the street all weekend and get more speeding tickets. I’m not talented enough and cannot afford to have my own team on the track. Gotta have an outlet somewhere.
hey andrew…how is it human error when the damn fenders have been pulled out so far that they don’t match the templates. that is what you call cheating…now the bracket that was left on juniors car…that was human error because it did nothing to improve the car. now the fag team actually flared their fenders to gain aerodynamic advantages on eveerybody else and that is cheating homeboy.
yeah and one more thing…if you don’t like nascar, then don’t watch it and stay off this website.
I think jeffgordonjimmiejohnsoncarledwardsrulethe99,48,24 has had way toooooo much coffee or something else!!!!
Seriously. I couldn’t make out half the stuff jeffgordonjimmiejohnsoncarledwardsrulethe99,48,24 even said. Haha.
All I know is that they like Gordon Jimmie and Edwards, did anyone else pick up on that?? Lol
Thank you! Mike for posting his cheating record! That Answers a question i had!
Racing without rules is like watching a stick and ball sport where the athletes are so overdosed on HGH that they make Hulk Hogan look like an anorexic dwarf wearing spandex. Rules create parity, which makes for a more exciting show because the best driver and crew will win, not the guy who spends the most on his equipment or can build the most expensive mouse trap.
It sure beats watching one guy lap the field ’cause they pushed enough gray areas within micrometers of being “red-flagged” on them that he lapped the field ’cause the blind guy (i.e. the guy with “Tech Inspector” on his shirt) with the tape measure and templates couldn’t put 2 and 2 together. I loved the old NASCAR races as much as the last person, and I do think NASCAR has made some poor choices in various capacities with their regulations… but I can frankly say that the CoT car sans aero push is a definite superior car to watch than the offset mongoloids in drag they run on the other weekends. Both are ugly but at least one of them is genuinely race-worthy.
Granted… I’d still prefer a good, old-fashioned, body in white homologation stock car series like what NASCAR was during the 60’s. Y’know, when like WRC, they used the actual body panels and general dimensions of the street cars? At the very least with all of the cost-containment efforts (good) they could take a composite mold off of a street car and slap a splitter on the front and a wing on the back. They could define a set of body constraints that all manufacturers have to build around, call it the 3 box effect (max dimensions for the nose from tip of nose to windshield edge, the windshield header height and rake, and the decklid length from tail of rear windshield to trailing edge of the deck, and let them design the street car within the constraints) They’ve already tested these waters with BGN E/W so I don’t doubt it’s headed for Cup eventually in some capacity.
I’ve no fault of rules and regulations however… if NASCAR had actually done a better job regulating the cars years ago the cars wouldn’t have become as overly expensive and difficult to pass with as they have today. It seems the more blog sites you get on the more you see people ranting and raving about this and that with some element of personal bias involved. As long as NASCAR is consistent with their penalties, then they’re everything anyone and everyone wants them to be. With that said, I think they were consistent for the CoT penalties they’ve set out… but I do believe as others have pointed out that Chad Knaus deserves a substantially larger penalty for the repeated acts.