Hendrick Motorsports is gearing up to fight back against the historic penalties NASCAR levied against them on Wednesday.
The governing body of the sport took issue with hood louvers found on the team’s multiple cars over last weekend’s race. The part was confiscated before Sunday’s race, which was ironically won by Hendrick’s William Byron. Now, a bevy of punishments have come to light afterwards.
According to NASCAR, each Hendrick team is losing 100 points. They’re also being fined $100k and will lose their crew chief for four weeks. Additionally, they’ll all lose 10 playoff points if they make it.
The biggest headline of the punishment though is a massive $400k fine. It’s now the biggest in the history of the sport.
Once the news hit airwaves, it predictably shocked the NASCAR world. Now, Hendrick Motorsports is responding, stating they’ll appeal the punishment.
“On Friday at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR identified louvers on our race cars during a voluntary inspection 35 minutes after the opening of the garage and prior to on-track activity,” a press release from Hendrick read. “NASCAR took possession of the parts approximately four hours later with no prior communication. The situation had no bearing on Saturday’s qualifying session or Sunday’s race.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision by NASCAR to issue penalties. We have elected to appeal based on a variety of facts.”
More on Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR Penalty Appeal:
According to Hendrick Motorsports, they’re basing their appeal on the facts stated below.
- Louvers provided to teams through NASCAR’s mandated single-source supplier do not match the design submitted by the manufacturer and approved by NASCAR.
- Documented inconsistent and unclear communication by the sanctioning body specifically related to louvers.
- Recent comparable penalties issued by NASCAR have been related to issues discovered during a post-race inspection.
As for this weekend’s race at Atlanta, Hendrick Motorsports will not request the crew chief suspensions to be deferred and will update their roster accordingly.
“For the March 19 NASCAR Cup Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, our organization has made the strategic decision not to request deferral of personnel suspensions,” added Hendrick. “Team rosters for this weekend will be updated as soon as substitute crew chiefs are determined.”
As you can see, it seems as if the story between Hendrick Motorsports and the penalties handed to them by NASCAR is far from over. Time will tell how things shake out in the end.