NASCAR has been on a roll as of late when enforcing its rules and regulations. You�re underage? Well you can�t race. You left you�re oil reservoir cap open? Well, you�ll lose points, money, and your crew chief for six weeks. That pretty much sums up how NASCAR puts it foot down. But I�m sure they didn�t expect Robby Gordon to pull the rug from under them.
Robby Gordon, a one-man racing team, was initially penalized by NASCAR for using the wrong nose cover for his Dodge Charger at the Daytona 500. According to Gordon, representatives from Dodge had informed the Evernham Performance Parts (EPP) warehouse, the party responsible for providing him with his car parts, that the nose cover met the requirements set by NASCAR. This error cost Gordon and his team a deduction of 100 driver and owner points, which caused him to drop to 37th place in the standings. NASCAR also imposed a $100,000 fine and a six-week suspension on his crew chief Frank Kerr. All of this led to Gordon appealing to the NASCAR commission that punishment imposed on him was to severe since he was misled by Dodge into thinking that wrong nose cover he used had been approved by NASCAR. Much to Gordon�s delight, the commission agreed with him and returned the points deducted to him and lifted the suspension imposed on his crew chief. However, the commission did increase the fine from $100,000 to $150,000, probably to make up for the lifting of the other penalties previously imposed on Gordon. Gordon�s successful appeal over a NASCAR punishment marks the first time that a race car driver was able to score a victory against NASCAR officials.
Hopefully, NASCAR learns from this that not all race car drivers are out to cheat in order to succeed. Some just happen to be like Gordon, a race car driver who just happened to get the wrong part at the wrong time.
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