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After finding, and confiscating, the roof flap spacers from 16 Sprint Cup and 15 Nationwide cars at Daytona last week NASCAR has come to the unusual determination of no penalties for non-compliant parts.
Under NASCAR rules the roof flaps, which are designed to open to let air out of the cockpit and help keep a car from flipping or spinning, must use the all the parts which come in the NASCAR-supplied kits.
The discovery of the non-regulation parts occurred during a pre-qualifying inspection.
Teams, apparently, manufactured their own spacers.
In making the ruling NASCAR said, in a statement:
“We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.
“Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted. Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made.”
Ordinarily NASCAR does use the effect of a non-compliant part or the intent to break a rule as a factor in determining penalties. Confiscation of non-regulation parts usually come with penalties with looking at fault.
The Sprint Cup teams affected by the non-ruling were Joe Gibbs Racing entries (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth), three Roush Fenway Racing entries (Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), the three Michael Waltrip Racing entries (Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip), both Roger Penske Racing entries (Joey Logano and defending series champion Brad Keselowski), both Richard Petty Motorsports entries (Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola as well as those of Jamie McMurray (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing), Trevor Bayne (Wood Brothers Racing) and Casey Mears (Germain Racing).
Under NASCAR rules the roof flaps, which are designed to open to let air out of the cockpit and help keep a car from flipping or spinning, must use the all the parts which come in the NASCAR-supplied kits.
The discovery of the non-regulation parts occurred during a pre-qualifying inspection.
Teams, apparently, manufactured their own spacers.
 |
| Inspection of the Toyota of Michael Waltrip. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR) |
In making the ruling NASCAR said, in a statement:
“We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.
“Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted. Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made.”
Ordinarily NASCAR does use the effect of a non-compliant part or the intent to break a rule as a factor in determining penalties. Confiscation of non-regulation parts usually come with penalties with looking at fault.
The Sprint Cup teams affected by the non-ruling were Joe Gibbs Racing entries (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth), three Roush Fenway Racing entries (Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), the three Michael Waltrip Racing entries (Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip), both Roger Penske Racing entries (Joey Logano and defending series champion Brad Keselowski), both Richard Petty Motorsports entries (Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola as well as those of Jamie McMurray (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing), Trevor Bayne (Wood Brothers Racing) and Casey Mears (Germain Racing).