In this case, we wanted to make sure the penalties we had in place for the first 26 races matched those in the Chase; but if someone were to go way outside the boundaries, we would have to react and make that an encumbered win.
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If a vehicle does fail postrace measurements at the standard NASCAR set last week as its most egregious violation, it would be a 35-point penalty, a three-race suspension for the crew chief and a $65,000 fine for the crew chief.
“We ramped up penalties as we headed into the Chase”, NASCAR Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive”.
Unfortunately, Truex’s No. 78 failed the post-race laser inspection – the left-rear wheel alignment was found to be off by approximately ten-thousandths of an inch, according to a Furniture Row Racing statement released Monday – but NASCAR has yet to dole out any penalties. “We believe the laser inspection numbers were correct and accept NASCAR’s decision that was made following Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway”. Johnson, however, would have been significantly impacted by the loss of 10 points.
O’Donnell said not penalizing either driver was the fair decision.
“We did what we came here to do and it always feels good to accomplish your goals”, Truex said during the post-race press conference. “We also saw this as a potential situation that we could see repeating itself for the next nine races of the Chase going forward”. The move is retroactive to last weekend’s race, so neither Truex nor Johnson will be penalized for their infractions, ESPN.com reports.
NASCAR faced a major perception issue with its previous three-tiered penalty scale, where it appeared there was an incentive to cheat – as long as a driver won. He said a points penalty given to a team trying to advance to the next round of the Chase would have dramatically different effects than on a team that is already locked into the Round of 12.
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Also in the name of fairness, NASCAR will now require all playoff teams to go through the LIS station after every event.
