Mayfield’s team expects big penalty for rule infraction-UPDATED
Quote selected text Published September 6th, 2007 in NASCAR News
UPDATE:
Joe Lax, crew chief for the #36 Toyota driven by Jeremy Mayfield in the Nextel Cup Series, has been fined $25,000, suspended from NASCAR competition until Sept. 19 [2 races] and placed on probation until Dec. 31 due to rule violations last week at California Speedway. Prior to qualifying, Lax was found to have violated Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment not conforming to NASCAR rules); 20-2.3 (added car weight); and 12-4W (improperly attached weight; weight installed inside water container). Those infractions also have resulted in a loss of 25 championship driver points for Mayfield and a loss of 25 championship car owner points for Gail Davis.
———————————————————-
Joe Lax, crew chief for Jeremy Mayfield’s No. 36 Toyota, is expecting a significant penalty after his team got caught putting illegal weight in the car.
In pre-qualifying inspection Friday at California Speedway, Mayfield’s Bill Davis Racing car was found to have too much camber in the rear end. The team fixed the problem, which requires taking a blowtorch to the rear of the car, and went back through the inspection line, but the car was found to be too light on the right side.
Then, in a moment of desperation, a team member stuck a piece of lead inside the water bottle to add the extra weight. But NASCAR discovered the illegal trick, which is considered tampering with the car.
“Let’s say this, it’s well outside the rule book,” NASCAR Nextel Cup Series director John Darby said, adding that any penalties would be announced on Tuesday.
“We did something stupid, you know?” Lax said. “I’ve got some young guys that need a little more experience and that was just a deal where we did something that was a bit immature. We got our hand slapped for that deal, and I went and had a little talk with Darby, and he said he’ll call me Tuesday and let me know how much it’s going to cost.”
Mayfield said he expected “big penalties” for the infraction.
“There’s no reason at all to be in the position we’re in,” he said. “We don’t have enough people. We’re an underfunded deal here that’s struggling. These guys here are working their guts out, but that’s all we can do. That’s not fair.”
- Should NASCAR reverse penalty on Edwards?
- Champ Car Penalizes Dominguez
- NASCAR hands down points penalty and suspension to the #2
- Ross Brawn ‘Frustrated’ over ‘Unfair’ Penalty to Schumacher
- COT violation could result in penalty for Earnhardt, Jr’s #8
I think it was pretty innovative. Hard to compete with huge money teams. With R and D departments the size of a small city.
JGR should change everything for Toy next year. Not suprising since Tony is from Central Ind. where toyota is king.
Good thing Jeremy didn’t drink it. LOL.
BDR sucks bigtime.
Its true what LAx says “There’s no reason at all to be in the position we’re in,” he said. “We don’t have enough people. We’re an underfunded deal here that’s struggling. These guys here are working their guts out, but that’s all we can do. That’s not fair.”
When u don’t have enough people and your company isn’t big and your competing agianst big name drivers who have a decent amount of wins because they can afford it. Knowing that you can’t yea you do things that put you in those situations. When your struggling you do those things like they did.
I agree with DAVE up there .
Was the official thirsty? WTF!! How much weight can you get in a water bottle anyway. NASCAR and there rules ruined what was a great sport to watch. Now I havent watched a whole race yet in 3 years due to boredom and falling asleep. Give it a rest NASCAR. Cap the teams spending annually. Give the smaller teams a chance to prove to their sponsors they can win. Stop catering to the multicar teams. Hell Ill drive for any team out there for free, I got racing experience. Im a racer do need to be paid to have fun!!
Sorry for your loss Jeremy.
lol supposed to say DONT need to be paid to have fun.
Go Toyota!