Originally Posted on February 15, 2007 on Foxsports.com
Nascar has been cracking down on teams who are seeking superior mechanical advantage in their cars. This isn't an easy task as not all violations are specifically prohibited in the Nascar Rulebook. The Rulebook is designed to leave "gray" areas, which allow Nascar to punish new innovations without specifically delineating everything. It also encourages owners, crew chiefs and crews to find ways around the specific rules.
This week at Daytona, Nascar found five violators of the Rulebook. The #17 of Jack Roush/Matt Kenseth/ Robbie Reiser was found to have aerodynamic modifications (holes in the wheel well). The #9 of Ray Evernham/Kasey Kahne/ Kenny Francis was found with similar modifications. The #10 of Ray Evernham/Scott Riggs/ Rodney Childers and the #19 of Ray Evernham/Elliott Sadler/ Josh Browne were found to have illegally modified decklids. The final violator was Michael Waltrip's #55 Toyota, which had an unsanctioned substance in the intake manifold.
Both Reiser and Francis have been suspended for four races and fined $50,000. The drivers and owners lost 50 points. This lost of points before the season starts is unprecedented in Nascar history. It isn't that Nascar hasn't docked points, it's just that the points weren't taken BEFORE the race. Kenseth & Kahne's qualifying times were disallowed as well. Don't feel too sorry for that, they both have a guaranteed start in the Daytona 500 based on last year's points.
Childers and Browne have been suspended for two races and fined $25,000 apiece. Evernham lost 25 points per car, as did Riggs and Sadler. Their qualification times were allowed to stand.
Waltrip's penalty was more severe. First, the car was impounded. Then his crew chief David Hyder and his competition director, Bobby Kennedy, were escorted off the Daytona International Speedway premises. The crew chief was fined $100,000 and suspended indefinately. Finally, Waltrip was docked 100 points. Why the harsh penalty? Because the "cheat" was messing with the fuel, which is a sacred component in Nascar. You can tweak a lot, just not the fuel or the tires. Recent reports indicate that Waltrip turned over the illegal substance to Nascar sometime before the Duels today.
Meanwhile, the winner of one of the Duels, Jeff Gordon, was found to be driving a car which was too low. As a penalty, he will merely have to start in 42nd place, not in the second row of the event. He will get to keep the win and will not lose any points.
Different penalties for different "crimes." But a lot of confusion for fans in the meantime. Every time Nascar penalizes one team, fans claim favoritism by the sanctioning body. And this recent crack down on cheaters isn't necessarily doing what Nascar wants it to do. The most publicity is focused on Nascar during the Daytona 500. To the average non-Nascar fan, there is confusion as to why the cheating happens and why all of a sudden these teams are trying to do anything to win.
The reality is that "CHEATS" or "Creative Hocus-pocus of Engineering - Aerodynamicis and Techinical Stuff" are an inherent part of Nascar. Starting back with Smokey Yunek and Junior Johnson, owners and mechanics tried every trick in the book to win.
Mandate a small fuel cell, they'll add a long hose from the fuel pump to the tank. Weight restrictions? They'll add weight in the radio/helmet/tires or whatever else can be removed before the race starts. Once Nascar got wise to those tricks, then buckshot was added to the chassis/frame and dropped out by the driver to lighten up the car. Teams tinkered with nitrous oxide to improve car speeds. Some weren't ever caught. Remember, these were the days when races were sometimes won by LAPS over the second place car, not just seconds.
Many recent innovations have been "discovered" by teams looking to gain a slight edge on the competition. Coil-binding comes to mind - and I'm not sure every team had it all figured out by the end of last year either. No one was ever punished for it, because it wasn't forbidden by the Rulebook, and at this point, probably won't be. Similarly, Jimmie Johnson's car at Dover in 2005 was found to have shocks that manipulated the height of the car during the race. Johnson and his team were not penalized, but Nascar sent out a technical memo to crew chiefs informing them that the new shocks were taboo from that point forward.
Does this mean that Nascar should tolerate cheating? Absolutely not, but it needs to provide some explanation to new fans so they understand where the sport has been and where it is going.
Besides, how else will fans hear the story of AJ Foyt and Darrell Waltrip's disallowed front row start for the Daytona 500?
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