TinTops suspend 3 crew chiefs

[G.]

By JENNA FRYER, AP Motorsports Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR (news - web sites) on Tuesday suspended the crew chiefs for Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick in a swift crackdown on cheating committed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


Todd Berrier was suspended for four weeks and fined $25,000 for rigging Harvick's fuel tank to appear full when it actually wasn't during qualifying.


Chad Knaus was suspended for two weeks and fined $35,000 when Johnson's race-winning car failed to meet the minimum height requirement in Sunday's post-race inspection.


Alan Gustafson was suspended two weeks and fined $25,000 because Busch's runner-up car was too high in the post-race inspection.


"Guys have just got to stop playing games with the rules," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter told The Associated Press. "We've got to do whatever we have to do to protect the integrity of this sport."

full story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=557&e=18&u=/ap/car_nascar_penalties

[Audi_A4]

Try suspending entire teams for a week, driver, crewmen, sponsor and you will see fewer cheaters.

[Methanolandbrats]

They have to cheat. If they actually find an advantage, NASCAR takes it away to preserve "close racin' and rubbin' ".

[RichK]

Yet the finishing positions of the race remain the same....what a joke.

[Andrew Longman]

NASCAR doesn't see much difference between someone who blatantly bypasses the rules and is unrepetant when he is caught, and someone who simply has a bolt fall off. Not much of a spread in terms of points penalty.

The driver points seem to be the most unfair in this game. That loss will be hanging with them all season in the "chase" and I haven't heard anything that they knew anything about it.

The Harvick deal is the most bizzare though. They are ensured a spot in the race and over 400 miles on an oval like LVMS it doesn't really matter where you qualify. Pole position and the sponsor exposure, points, cash and bud shoot out spot are some incentives, but this article says that he wouldn't have gotten caught if he qualified outside the top five because they only check the top cars.

"If I had to do it again, I'd still play it to try to get away with it, because I know how I got caught," Berrier told NASCAR.com.

So he'll try it again but this time make sure Harvick qualifies no better than 6th? What a marroon!

[Andrew Longman]

Yet the finishing positions of the race remain the same....what a joke.

There is something to be said for the France philosophy that fan's should not go home not knowing who won. Ask Mario or Tracy regarding IMS.

I do wonder why a post race inspection would be so necessary if they simply did a solid pre race inspection and impounded the cars until the start of the race. Other that a quick fuel check of NOX and the like, whatever differences that occur during the race due to shock wear and adjustments, wrecks and such is just racing.

I also think NASCAR is hurting itself with all this. I know they want parity, but the average NASCAR fan could care less about a quarter panel being 1/4" too high (unless they like to watch Kenny Wallace try to explain it :D )

[JoeBob]

The 25 point penalty pretty much means that finishing positions do not stay. Sure they do on paper, but in reality, its a penalty of about 5 spots. (Sure the purse money stays the same, but these teams aren't racing for the purse anyway.)

What I find interesting is that the penalties were so similar. There's no way to construe what that 29 team did as anything but a blatent attempt to cheat. The other two could explain their actions by events that happened during the race.

So much happens during a race, that I'd hope that a car that passes pre-race inspection only gets this sort of penalty because something seriously wrong happened prior to the post-race inspection. You can't expect a crew chief to start measuring ride height during the race. But, thats JMHO.

[RichK]

There is something to be said for the France philosophy that fan's should not go home not knowing who won. Ask Mario or Tracy regarding IMS.


History books will record the winner of the race. The drivers want to win races & stand on the top step (or drive into Sports Drink Lane & spray their crews).

I'd be happy if the records at least have "CHEATED!" next to their names. :)

[FRANKY]

I don't have a problem pushing the rules. Get caught, get fined and lose points, it wouldn't bother me if they lost the win either.

They want the Championhip more than anything, I just want an increase in the loss of points if the one caught, keeps getting caught.

[Andrew Longman]

History books will record the winner of the race. The drivers want to win races & stand on the top step (or drive into Sports Drink Lane & spray their crews).

I'd be happy if the records at least have "CHEATED!" next to their names. :)
I understand your point, but especially for the typical fan, they don't.

You see a great race. It becomes a fond memory. It should not be changed just because the race officials couldn't call the game correctly at the time.

Was Franco Harris' catch and score in the Oakland play off game really a legal catch? Maybe yes or no, but once the game is over no one changed the score.

The way Mario and Tracy were handled in the 81 and 2000 I500 are without a doubt the biggest joke I've seen in major sports. First, they have every resource at their means (or should have) to make the call correctly and then get it wrong. Then, they reverse or waiver and it ends up in court. Waiting month to know the winner takes everything out of the race for fans and teams alike.

Yes history will put an asterisk on the win, but the sanctioning body should not.

[RTKar]

What I can't understand about the Bubba's is if a template doesn't fit, the car is illegal yet a car can crash, be repaired and be back out on the track with bodywork missing and the car held together with duct tape. Tell me the template fits that.