Five NASCAR teams stand at the receiving end of penalties and points deductions, but teams are still bent on tweaking their cars in preparation for what promises to be a close run Nextel Cup series once the Car of Tomorrow goes flat out in 2008.
NASCAR suspended the respective crew chiefs of the teams working for drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for six races, while both drivers and their owners were penalized with a 100-point deduction from their season totals. NASCAR cited the altered front fenders of the cars, which failed inspection Friday at the Infineon Raceway in Northern California. Both Johnson and Gordon flagged off at the tail of the field due to the penalty.
�We feel like we need to issue penalties and they need to be severe enough to display to the entire industry that we�re serious about the new car and the components of it that we don�t want altered or modified or messed with,� said John Darby, director of the Nextel Cup series.
�We believe the penalties that we did issue are adequate enough to deliver that message. If, going forward, we find more and more violations and they become more frequent, then we will upscale the penalties until we get the result we�re looking for.�
With the test runs of the Car of Tomorrow races this season, NASCAR does not have a set rules just yet and officials have come down hard on teams that make changes to the new cars. The close finish of the test runs indicate the CoT will be highly competitive and race officials are keeping an eye on teams that can get unfair advantage from body modifications.
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