Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
NASCAR handed out their decisions on penalty infractions and penalty appeal reviews. Here are the results:
Robby Gordon:
His appeal was heard and he was given back his crew chief and, most importantly, he got his 100 driver/owner points back, which moves him from 37th to 21st in the standings.
Although he did not go away Scot free, his crew chief fine was raised from $100,000 to $150,000 ($500 for every point awarded back I guess).
“We see this as good news,” Gordon said in a statement. “We are grateful the commissioners rescinded the points penalty and suspension but [are] disappointed by the fine. Still, we see this as a victory for Robby Gordon Motorsports. We feel like justice was done and appreciate NASCAR creating a system that allowed us to take our appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. Now we plan to put this issue behind us and concentrate on making the Chase in 2008 as well as getting the Jim Beam Dodge into victory lane.
Carl Edwards:
He was fined 100 points, and possibly the 10 point win bonus if he makes the Chase. Also his crew Chief was suspended for 6 races and placed on probation for the rest of the year. Roush was also fined 100 owner points, but was given no monetary fines. Carl’s crew chief, Bob Osborne, was fined $100,000.
These penalties and fines are close to what I predicted a few days ago - although I thought Bob would get $50,000 and Roush would get the same amount, instead NASCAR just gave the whole amount to Bob.
“The bolt holding the lid in place failed in its purpose as a result of vibration harmonics generated by the car and the race track during the race,” Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said in a statement. “The bolt was secure enough to survive 225 miles of practice, perhaps up to 399 of 400 miles of the race and the scrutiny of numerous inspections. It’s a tough business for any race team to have to pledge $100,000, 100 points and a six-race crew chief suspension as an indemnity payment to NASCAR against a promise forced from us by NASCAR that no bolt will ever fail its purpose under race conditions.
“We are currently evaluating whether or not the circumstances justify submitting to the unpleasantness of the appeal process, but from a competitive standpoint, we believe it is in our best interest to have Bob Osborne begin serving the penalty now.”
The circumstances don’t justify it Geoff, give it up.
Personally, I think NASCAR got it right in both the Gordon and the Edward cases. Justice was served, and rightly so.
Go to scendaily.com for the complete stories.
Photo Credit: jakarachuonyo
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