Just one more day...

NASCAR tires (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We only have to wait one more day before we learn the results of the Richard Childress Racing appeal following NASCAR's heavy-handed penalties for tire tampering against Ryan Newman and the #31 team.

The team was accused of altering their tires, possibly with one or more minuscule holes in the tires in an effort to bleed off some of the pressure that naturally builds up during long racing runs. 

Huge penalties and fines were levied against the team following the California race held March 22. Crew Chief Luke Lambert was fined $125,000, and was suspended for six races, including the All Star Race next month. Also suspended were Tire Technician James Bender and Engineer Philip Surgen. The three would be on probation for the rest of 2015. Both owner Richard Childress and driver Ryan Newman were docked 75 points each.

The penalty hit Newman hard, dropping him from sixth in the points standings to 26th. 

NASCAR has been confiscating tires from various teams, but the #31 team was the only one penalized.

According to NASCAR, the violations included three infractions of its rule book.

• 12.1 - Actions detrimental to stock car racing
• 20.16 Any device, modification, or procedure to the tire or wheel, including the valve stem hardware, that is used to release pressure, beyond normal pressure adjustments from the tire and/or inner shield, will not be permitted.
• 20.16.2 Modifications to the tires, by treatment or any other means, will not be permitted.

These infractions are considered very serious by NASCAR. On a scale of 1 to 6, this violation ranks fifth. 

An appeal will be held Thursday. NASCAR complied with RCR's request to defer suspensions, (but not points), pending the outcome of the appeal. If RCR wins the appeal, the points would be reinstated or they could possibly be reduced.

"We feel confident we have a very compelling case to present to the appeals panel," Childress said in a press release. "We strongly believe in the intent of the rules and integrity of our own teams while following those same rules." 

Childress was mum however on any further explanation in an effort to "respect the appeals process."

NASCAR has also said nothing more, which makes it difficult to know just what the case is against the #31 team.  

My take on NASCAR drama

Chicagoland Speedway, Wikipedia

The dust has settled, even after the long rainy spell that turned it all into mud.

The first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is now behind us--finally! It was a long road to hoe, but the championship battle has commenced.

My observations to follow this long week of racing news is as follows:

Adding Jeff Gordon to the chase:

As much as I recognize that Jeff Gordon seemingly got robbed by the events during the race at Richmond that affected the final race of the regular 2013 season, I'm not sure it made sense to simply add his name to the roster. When that was done to add Ryan Newman to the Chase, NASCAR went out of its way to justify it. Newman wasn't simply given a chase berth because he would likely have won the race that was stolen from him when Clint Bowyer spun out his car, Newman was added because the points dictated it. He was tied with Martin Truex, Jr. who as a Michael Waltrip Racing driver was penalized 50 points. The same wasn't true for Gordon, which once again shows NASCAR's inconsistency, a problem they never quite seem to grapple with.

Michael Waltrip Racing penalties:

If it was possible to simply add Gordon to the chase, why wasn't the same action accorded Martin Truex, Jr.? He too was a victim of the overall incident at Richmond. Clearly he had no knowledge of the team orders for which he was an innocent beneficiary. Truex was the one victim in this whole story and he was the only one given no consideration. That was patently unfair. I believe Gordon was added because NASCAR tends to favor him. There have been countless other incidents, like when NASCAR calls a race for rain at just the right moment, or when caution is called for debris that no one sees.

Clint Bowyer points penalties

Clint Bowyer's spin, which started the events that changed the face of the championship field, was intentional, by all accounts except that of Bowyer himself. I believe it to be as well, based on the video of his in-car camera as well as so much feedback from drivers and former drivers turned analysts. NASCAR could have gone back to the technology available to them to prove the spin was intentional, but they didn't. Rather than make it right they would have had to admit they were wrong. The decision-makers are the same ones that initially said there was no problem with the spin. NASCAR doesn't often admit when they are wrong. But I think they were wrong! They should have investigated this further.

For Bowyer to receive a points penalty in the regular season points standings was ineffectual. The penalty should have been after the reseeding for the chase. This was totally wrong on NASCAR's part. The result of their action was moot. Bowyer should not have been allowed to run for the championship in the same manner than the rest of the field of drivers. By comparison, what happened to Bowyer and Truex--well--there is no comparison. Bowyer, who caused this mess came out smelling like a rose while Truex paid the price. That is wrong!

Penske Racing and Furniture Row Racing

Probation for Penske Racing--again--and Furniture Row Racing was meaningless, yet the video transmission about dealmaking was alarming. How many times have these deals altered the results of a race in the past? Will it happen again in the future? This did result in NASCAR cracking down on having only one spotter per team with no digital radios and cell phones allowed.

Restart rules

I applaud NASCAR for loosening the restart rules that were never followed anyway. This is the closest thing to an admission that they were wrong in trying to police restarts, for which they failed miserably.

Painfully long rain delay

NASCAR did the right thing by re-starting the race after the rain. It was a good race overall and certainly worth the wait.

Thank goodness for Twitter

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to follow all the nuances of the painfully long week of news related to what was deemed "spingate." I feel as though I was as informed as I wanted to be, limited only by my own curiosity. NASCAR news men and women did a Yeoman's job reporting all of the events surrounding this bizarre week that began at Richmond Saturday night and continued until the conclusion of the rain-delayed first race of the Chase Sunday night at Chicagoland. Heck, it was almost Monday morning by the time the race ended.

Kudos to the news media

A special shout out to all of them for keeping race fans apprised of what was happening during all the drama unfolding throughout the previous week. They did a fine job, interviewing drivers, staying on top of NASCAR officials, asking all the right questions, and coming up with excellent analysis. 

Richmond race fallout, virtually meaningless

Michael Waltrip Racing
received harsh penalties

After all the dust has settled, the learning curve is over and it is now time to assess the damage. Long before I was a Ryan Newman fan, I have been devoted to fairness, truth, honesty, and justice.

For me, while I'm happy Ryan is in the chase, all is not good in the world of NASCAR, never a paragon of virtue.

After what transpired Saturday night at Richmond, with the obvious attempt to manipulate the race results in its favor, Michael Waltrip got what amounts to a slap on the wrist. It may be the biggest penalties NASCAR ever handed out, but it isn't enough. Damage remains. Questions are still unanswered. Justice has not prevailed.

What I believe NASCAR really did, with the aid of MWR, was analyze the best way to justify what happened and to repair the damage the quickest, not necessarily the best or fairest way possible. What resulted was flawed because NASCAR's motives are flawed; its methods are flawed. NASCAR brass did not seek justice or fairness; they simply set out to make a positive statement to the myriad fans that were horrified by the actions on the track Saturday. NASCAR had no choice but to do something. So they did.

While it appears the right thing was done by Ryan Newman, NASCAR didn't do it because it was the right thing to do; they did it because it was the most logical thing to do to made them look good.

Ask angry Jeff Gordon fans if justice was served. They continue petitioning in an effort to have Clint Bowyer removed from the Chase in order for Gordon to compete for the championship. Gordon has lots of fans and none of them are happy to see their driver ripped off the way he was.

Gordon was a victim. He was 10th in points until his position was manipulated when Brian Vickers was called into pit, allowing Joey Logano to assume 10th place. In car audio revealed Ty Norris directing Vickers to pit because one more point was needed--the point that would give Logano a chase position leaving the opening for Truex in the wildcard spot.

I feel bad for Martin Truex, Jr., who thought he raced his way into the Chase, not knowing that he was being manipulated by unfair circumstances. It is ironic that he was supposed to be the benefactor, but ended up being the fall guy for the company he works for. And I don't think he even knew at the time.

The result of the penalties assessed by NASCAR are basically meaningless. 

Points only matter to drivers trying to earn a place in the chase. With the chase field set, points are of no consequence. Without a place in the chase, Truex and Vickers are basically unaffected by a points penalty. In Bowyer's case, he lost nothing, beyond his reputation. He's in the chase and with the points reset, the result, his position too, is unaffected. With millions of dollars on the line, let's face it, a monetary penalty to Michael Waltrip Racing--$300,000--is chump change. It may be the largest penalty NASCAR has ever leveled, but that must be put into perspective. That is about the amount of one driver earns in one race or for one endorsement.

The bottom line is that nothing will change because of this action, except that Newman will be guaranteed the spot he earned by doing his job well Saturday night. NASCAR did make that right.

NASCAR held a news conference yesterday to make its reactions to this situation known to the media, but it was not broadcast live to the public. That tells me there is still a problem. NASCAR isn't unlike a political campaign that wants to control the message. In this day and age, that is just not possible, but they haven't figured that out yet.

There was no mention by NASCAR about Carl Edwards, in second place, beating Paul Menard, the leader, to the line on the final restart allowing him to win the race. That is illegal by NASCAR's own definition, and fines have been leveled for it. It was explained away this time. NASCAR continues making rules and then haphazardly enforcing them.

Did NASCAR's action deter future cheating? I don't think so. All they did was show that if you cheat, just don't get caught, or watch what you say on the radio so you don't put us in this position again. That was evident in the fact that Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, who allegedly followed team orders to change the outcome of the race, were not fined or parked. It was evident in the fact that Clint Bowyer refused to admit that he spun out on purpose. Nothing has changed for Michael Watrip or for NASCAR, evident in Waltrip's twitter comments that claim Ty Norris made a split-second call. Norris was suspended indefinitely. That translates into Norris simply being the MWR scapegoat.

I suspect the flaws in this over-regulated, highly-manipulated sport will continue with business as usual.

Michael Waltrip no stranger to NASCAR penalties

NASCAR levied fines against Michael Waltrip's truck team following a bizarre failure of the spoiler on his truck causing many to question the legitimacy of his winning the race--the first official race for the Camping World Truck Series at Daytona.

Michael Waltrip is not a stranger to being fined at Daytona.

In this most recent event, Friday, Feb. 18, 2011, Waltrip's last lap maneuver caused him to win the race. His post-race interview was, frankly, weird. Waltrip isn't a very good actor. He claimed he didn't know about the spoiler until he finished the race, but I am not so sure, given his behavior. Something wasn't quite right.

What resulted was clearly no surprise.

There are some conspiracy theorists that would gladly believe Waltrip's race win was intentionally staged. After all, there was plenty of hype surrounding the ten-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death. Waltrip won the 2001 Daytona 500, a race win marred by Earnhardt's death. 

Had Waltrip legitimately won the truck race, to honor Earnhardt's memory, it would have made a beautiful story. Instead, the story is clouded by controversy due to failed parts.

Was the win legitimate?

When Waltrip drove the #15 truck to victory, it was after a portion of the spoiler failed during the final laps of the race. Half of it was virtually non-existent. Only half a spoiler results in half the drag, possibly resulting in faster speeds. Was the spoiler the reason Waltrip was able to cruise past the #2 truck driven by Elliott Sadler on that last pass?

As a result, Waltrip's crew chief Doug Howe was fined $25,000 and put on probation until Dec. 31. Billy Ballew, who owns the Vision Aviation Racing Waltrip drove, was penalized 25 owner points. That doesn't sound like a lot, but under the new points system, it is comparable to 100 points last year. Waltrip did not lose driver points because he is not competing full time in the truck series. 

According to a NASCAR press release, the fines were said to violate three sections of the rule book:

• 12-1 - actions detrimental to stock car racing;
  
• 12-4-J - any determination by NASCAR Officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules;
  
• 20B-3.1.2E - rear spoiler did not meet specifications in post-race inspection.

NASCAR officials confiscated the part for inspection and later ruled that it appeared to have failed. They claim none of the pieces were illegal, concluding that it does not appear the part was altered on purpose.

But what are race fans to think since this is like deja vu?

This is not the first time Michael Waltrip has incurred fines at the start of the racing season.

In the opening pages that marked the 2007 season, Michael Waltrip's new racing team failed pre-race inspection prior to the Duel races. At that time, NASCAR found an illegal substance in the engine that would boost the horsepower. They found him to be in violation of three rules:

• 12-4-A - actions detrimental to stock car racing;
• 12-4-Q - car, car parts components and/or equipment not conforming to NASCAR rules;
• 20-15.2C - gasoline must not be blended with alcohols, ethers or other oxygenates.
  

He was fined 100 driver points; his wife Buffy who owned the car, was fined 100 owner points; his crew chief Larry Hyder was suspended indefinately and fined $100,000. Vice President of competition Bobby Kennedy was suspended indefinitely as well, according to past reports.