NASCAR penalizes Gordon heavily for nose infraction-UPDATE
Quote selected text Published February 21st, 2008 in NASCAR News
UPDATE:
Robby Gordon will appeal NASCAR’s penalty of 100 points, $100,000 and a six-race suspension to crew chief Frank Kerr for presenting an illegal nose for inspection prior to Daytona 500 practice Feb. 8.
Gordon, who had a week earlier announced he was switching from Ford to Dodge as part of a technical partnership with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, has said that Dodge’s distributor accidentally sent him a prototype Dodge nose that had yet to be approved. The difference is the approved nose has a slightly bigger area that is indented around the headlight than the unapproved nose.
“This was an innocent mistake made by someone not even on my team,” Gordon said Wednesday night in a statement. “They accidentally supplied us the new Dodge noses that NASCAR hasn’t yet approved because of what amounted to a clerical error. It was discovered during technical inspection and corrected before the race.
“It was not even close to being an intent to create some competitive advantage, and the mistake was not even made by my team.”
Gordon indicated his appeal will center around the penalty being too harsh.
“This penalty is way out of proportion when you compare it what happened last year when a team was penalized 100 points for adding a substance to the fuel, or when a team deliberately changed the bodies of the [car of tomorrow],” Gordon said. “To penalize my team the same amount when we didn’t even make the mistake, and the mistake was nothing more than inadvertent human error by someone else is just not fair.
“Other teams who have had similar issues to what happened with the nose on my car were only penalized 25 points. I hope that NASCAR can reconsider when they have all the facts.”
The loss of 100 points drops Gordon from ninth to 40th in the Sprint Cup standings.
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NASCAR penalized Robby Gordon 100 driver and owner points, fined his team $100,000 and suspended crew chief Frank Kerr for six races Wednesday for presenting an illegal nose for inspection prior to Daytona 500 practice Feb. 8.
Gordon, who had a week earlier announced he was switching from Ford to Dodge as part of a technical partnership with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, has said that Dodge’s distributor accidentally sent him a prototype Dodge nose that had yet to be approved. The difference is the approved nose has a slightly bigger area that is indented around the headlight than the unapproved nose.
The loss of 100 points drops Gordon from ninth to 40th in the Sprint Cup standings.
Bookmark to:
- Jim Beam appeals to NASCAR to reconsider Gordon penalty
- NASCAR penalizes Busch crew chief
- NASCAR penalizes Truex, team heavily
- Dodge Gets New Nose Approved by NASCAR
- Should NASCAR reverse penalty on Edwards?
I think this is wrong, as it was an honest mistake and
gave a very slight if any performance advantage to Gordon
plus the nose will probably be approved for use in a matter of weeks
But thats okay NASCAR, keep penalizing and killing of the little teams that made NASCAR famous
i think this whole thing is wrong……….
So… Robby gets the Charger nose put on his car by GEM, and it is found before any on track activity, and it gets changed to the Avenger nose (the one they still have to use).
GEM, has a car outside the top 35, the partner with RGM and give RGM illegal parts. RGM gets penalized, meaning that GEM has a better chance of getting their non-top 35 car back into the top 35.
conspiracy…? I think So.
your theory doesnt hold water he’s now only 16 points out of 35th with 4 races left to make up the points so noone benefits by this it’s just a bad call
Yes, but remember this all happened before the race week even started. GEM was probably banking on Patrick getting into the race and running well, and Robby not doing as good as he did.
Plus I know it’s not really the case, but hey people have all kinds of crazy conspiracy theory’s about everything else so why not this…. l0l
Yup, an accident just like Dale Jr having the wrong wing mounting brackets last year… If it truly was an accident, at least NASCAR was consistent in their assessing the penalty, and isn’t that what we always complain about them not doing?
does anybody ever noticed that everytime someone gets caught cheating its a accident and its somebody else’s fault. well maybe NASCAR’s 6 race suspensions well make sure these “accidents” dont happen as often. I mean come on six drivers at the biggest race of the year all had accidents that can be considered a form of cheating.Hmmmmmmmmmmmm i dont think so.
Remember how NASCAR said they were going to ease up on the penalties this year?
LOL
Jiffy they were talking about the drivers as far as throwing punches and stuff, not messing with the car.
While I agree the penalty is kinda harsh, especially since it wasn’t like what HMS did to the cars last year, I am positive that nothing will change unless somebody from Dodge, or GEM steps forward and says “It was a mistake on our end we sent him the wrong part”. But beings this happened more then a week ago, and that hasn’t happened yet I don’t see it happening.
TEI bribed a Ford exec who then bribed a GEM exec who then bribed Dodge distributer to send wrong part…oh yeah and somewhere along the way someone whistled into Brians ear and there you have it!
Robby’s team mounted the nose. Someone should be responsible for checking things out. As for the penalty, that is pretty harsh. They didn’t make it onto the track so there was no advantage. Seems it was more of a disadvantage due to loss of time.
You know what is funny? Some of the same fans who think Jr should be held responsible for what happens on his car, don’t think Robbie should be held responsible for what happens on his car! Just an observation.
Sam there is a difference between getting the wrong part from the factory, and altering the Spoiler at a track where that is a no-no AFTER IT ALREADY PASSED INSPECTION WITH THE CORRECT SPOILER.
Robbie should be held responsible as it was his teams job to check it before they left the shop, HOWEVER, his penalty should not be as stiff as it is because it is a FACTORY part that all the team does is bolt on. They did not go through the trouble to make an illegal part like a Spoiler.
NASCAR appears to be consistent for once. There was precendent set for this last year. As far as having the wrong part on the car (honest mistake or not) this appears to be the same situation as many other rule infractions but its amazing how some people’s tune changes depending on which driver is involved.
Atleast Robbie made it through the race without a DNF or ruining the race for the rest of the field for once.
Just face it Robbie; they don’t like you and you will be watched till you get your sorry a$$ out of
NASCAR racing and go back to playing in the dirt where you belong…
Sam wrote:
And a great observation it was. Whats good for one team has got to be right for any other team.
Parts is Parts whether you make them or bolt them on you gota know ifs its a legal part or your just trying to run a little scam.
Sorry Robby. wrong team,wrong first NAME ….i,ve seen whole cars taken no fines,anyways it was done before inspection,thats what it for check the car before the race, then don’t check the cars until after the race and fine everyone that don’t meet proper spec, fair for all, no delays right after, no oh we’ll wait until the car cools and comes up to right height…… GOOD LUCK ROBBY
SEE YOU IN WINNERS CIRCLE ROBBY
Too stiff a penalty from what appears to be an honest mistake. A few of you have been saying recently since he got everything from GEM, fine Ray too. I think that’s a good start. Robby never needs help getting NASCAR’s attention and he didn’t need this. This fine and points penalty deal is bad. It could cripple a one car team like his. Robby just lost a few million because of that stupid canceled rally. He had a good run Sunday without unapproved parts. I swear they try too hard to make an example of Robby at times. This is one of them.
It seems that most people like the new NASCAR. I’m a little surprised. Same cars, ESPN coverage, nearly all announcers think every race is the greatest. Hopefully NASCAR will soon replace all drivers with programmable robots so we won’t have any of those pesky personalities. I have never met Robby Gordon and don’t know if he is a nice guy or a jerk, but I believe we need more drivers like him. Love him or hate him, he’s not very boring. Here’s an idea, let’s have the Korean scientists clone Ward Burton 43 times.
Bad Bad idea michael… Not ward x 43, please not that.
And we don’t need more drivers like Robby Gordon. As a mater of fact we don’t need him at all.
An yes he is a self centered no talent jerk.