Category: NASCAR Cup Series

FORD FAST FACTS:
•        Greg Biffle is the last Ford driver to win a NSCS race at Dover when
he captured this event in 2008.
•        Matt Kenseth made his NSCS debut at Dover when he subbed for Bill
Elliott in 1998.
•        Kenseth also got his first NSCS pole at Dover in May 2002.
•        Ford has 24 all-time NSCS wins at Dover.
•        Jack Roush stands second on the winningest car owner’s list at Dover
with eight career victories.
•        The last time Ford finished 1-2-3 in a NSCS race was in this race
two years ago when Greg Biffle edged teammates Matt Kenseth (2nd) and
Carl Edwards (3rd).

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion, has one NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series win here at Dover International Speedway and comes
into this weekend’s event seventh in the point standings, 95 points
behind leader Denny Hamlin.  He held his weekly Q&A session Friday
morning before NSCS practice.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – WHAT ARE YOUR COMMENTS ON
WHAT HAPPENED TO CLINT?  “I don’t understand what they did.  Does
anyone know what the exact problem was?” 

THEY SAID HE WAS LOW ON THE
SIDE OF THE CAR.  “I don’t understand exactly what measurement was
out, so until I can know what measurement was out, it would be foolish
to talk about it.  I’ve heard a lot of people talk about it, but I
don’t think anyone knows what happened.” 

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR
EMOTION TO BE RUNNING GOOD AGAIN AND BE AT THE HEAD OF THE ROUSH GROUP
IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE?  “It feels really good to be running the way
we’re running.  What we have to do is run that way over the next nine
races.  If we can do that, then it’s gonna be really good.  Loudon has
been our worst track statistically and if I didn’t mess up and slide
up into Denny, I think we would have had a pretty good day there.  So
going forward, I think here at Dover, Kansas, California and all these
places we’ve got a lot to look forward to.” 

IS THERE ANY REASON WHY
YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THIS KIND OF PERFORMANCE?  “The only
thing that will stop us is making mistakes or having failures.
Mistakes are easy, especially with the way everybody is racing.
Everyone is racing so hard.  You’ve got to raise your game and then
parts failures and stuff like that, you’ve just got to try to live
right and say all your prayers before the race and then hope for the
best.” 

IT SEEMED A LOT OF TROUBLE LAST WEEK WAS ON RESTARTS.  DOES
THAT WORRY YOU HERE?  “Dover has more grip.  The tire seems to grip a
little bit more.  There at New Hampshire, the problem on the restarts
was everyone’s cars were so loose, there was no grip in the track.
That’s part of what makes it fun, but also makes it really dangerous
on the restarts.  I think that’s why you saw each time we had a
restart there would be chaos.” 

TWO YEARS AGO AT THIS RACE GREG WON,
MATT WAS SECOND AND YOU WERE THIRD.  IS THIS A BENCHMARK RACE FOR
ROUSH FENWAY?  “Two years ago Greg won the race.  He won the first two
races of the chase, Matt finished second and I finished third here at
Dover.  That felt pretty good.  I remember getting out of the car and
thinking, ‘This is alright.  One of us is gonna win this
championship.’  I know we’re not up there leading the points right
now, but we’re all close enough that if we can have that form again,
if we can get back to that, I’d say we have just as good a chance this
year.  So that does feel good and I like running here at Dover, for
sure.”

ONLY FIVE CHASERS FINISHING IN THE TOP 10
LAST WEEK.  DO YOU THINK A DRIVER CAN MOVE UP BY JUST RUNNING TOP 10
THAN IN THE PAST?  “That’s interesting.  I didn’t think of it that
way.  I remember, maybe it was 2008 and some other years, but it felt
like the top 10 or 12 guys finished in the top 10 or 12.  I didn’t
realize that until you said it, but I guess the fact that there are so
many cars running well, guys that aren’t in the chase, that can fill
up some of those top 10 spots.  It might be more important just to be
consistent than it has been in year’s past, so, yeah.” 

YOU HAVE A NEW
CREW CHIEF IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES THIS WEEKEND.  HOW DO YOU FEEL
ABOUT LOSING DREW?  “I didn’t lose Drew.  We’ve got a deal.  I get
Drew back.  Drew is going over to work with David Ragan and I think
that’s gonna be a good move for our company.  David and those guys
have done a really good job, but they haven’t had that spark to get
them going.  I think Drew going over there and working with the team
and Donnie Wingo being receptive to it and kind of partnering up with
Drew, and then Donnie’s ability to look at the rest of our team kind
of fills that spot we don’t have right now.  All of that is good, and
I’ve got Mike Beam on my pit box in the Nationwide Series, so it
looked like one of those moves we could try for the last eight or nine
races of the season and really nobody loses.  Everybody has a chance
to win and that’s pretty cool to have that much depth.” 

SO WHEN YOU
SAY YOU’RE GOING TO GET HIM BACK, WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?  “My plan
is for Drew to crew chief the 60 car next year.  Now, if he goes over
there and lights the world on fire with David, then it would be hard
to get him back, but, right now, that’s the plan.  Donnie Wingo right
now has kind of taken the place where Jimmy Fennig was, where he was
kind of overseeing everything that we’re doing around the teams.  I
feel like we lost something when Jimmy left that position, so for
Donnie to do that and Drew to be able to work with David and see if
they can spark anything, and then me to work with Mike Beam, who has
been developing our Nationwide stuff for the last few months, it just
looked like a pretty good move.  But Drew is not gonna be going
anywhere else.  He will either be on that 6 or the 60 as far as I’m
concerned.” 

WHAT DOES THAT SAY PHILOSOPHICALLY ABOUT THE WAY JACK
DOES STUFF?  “I think it shows that we’re not willing to settle.  Even
when we’re making progress we’re not willing to settle for second
best.  Jack and Donnie Wingo and David Ragan all want the best for
that 6 UPS team and myself included.  All of my guys on the 60 team,
we’re all sacrificing by being okay with Drew leaving and going over
there, so I think it says a lot about the organization.  For me, in
the last two years, I’ve seen more of that.  You can shake things up
and everybody raises their hand and says, ‘Alright, I’m in.  Let’s do
this,’ and that’s pretty cool.” 

HOW FAR DO WE NEED TO GET INTO THE
CHASE BEFORE WE SEE WHO HAS A REAL SHOT AT THIS TITLE?  “I think we’ve
got to get about five races in to see who has a shot at the
championship.  You’re gonna find out after five or six races.  There
are gonna be guys that weed themselves out and there are gonna be guys
that stand about the rest.  I think until five or six races in, I
don’t know who is gonna be leading the thing.  Heck, this week in the
middle of the week we shook up the points because NASCAR made a
ruling, so you just never know what’s gonna happen.” 

DOES IT FEEL
LIKE YOU DODGED A BULLET WHEN YOU FINISH 11TH, LIKE LAST WEEK, AS
OPPOSED TO 30TH OR 31ST?  “If before Loudon you would have offered up
11th for me and our team, we probably would have taken it instead of
running the race.  We ran really well in the race.  We ran top two or
three most of the day, so being 11th was a little bit disappointing,
but looking back on it, that’s okay.  Yeah, it’s frustrating to see
other guys finish in front of you and know they got a little leg up on
you.”  C

AN YOU DESCRIBE THE FEELING?  IS IT A SENSE OF RELIEF?  “When
I saw Tony Stewart run out of fuel, that changed my perspective on the
day.  Here I was thinking, ‘Man, Tony is gonna come out of this thing
with the points lead by winning the race,’ and then he runs out of
fuel 60 seconds from winning the thing.  That made me realize that
it’s not over until it’s over.  You just count your blessings.  I was
like, ‘Whew, we made it.’”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

AAA 400

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

 

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/LAW ENFORCEMENT MUSEUM CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed inspection process, penalties, Kansas Speedway and other topics. Full transcript:

 

PRIOR TO HIS COMPETITION MEDIA AVAILABILITY, GORDON INTRODUCED DETECTIVE DAVID E. SPICER OF THE DOVER (DELAWARE) POLICE DEPARTMENT AND INVESTIGATOR KYLE D. RUSSEL (ALEXANDER (VIRGINIA) POLICE DEPARTMENT AS A PART OF THE TEAM’S AFFILIATION THROUGH DUPONT WITH THE LAW ENFORCEMENT MUSEUM PROJECT. BOTH OFFICERS TOLD THEIR PERSONAL STORY OF BEING SHOT IN THE LINE OF DUTY. AUDIO AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.  SHORT Q & A WITH OFFICERS BELOW:

 

OFFICERS, YOUR STORIES ARE VERY COMPELLING, SOUNDS LIKE A WAR ZONE, HOW MANY LAW OFFICERS DON’T GET THE RIGHT PROTECTION WITH A VEST BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD IT OR WHATEVER REASON? ALSO, HOW DO YOU GO BACK TO WORK AFTER THOSE STORIES?

SPICER – “First of all, once an incident happens like this, you have to get back on a horse so to speak. That is what I did. As quickly as I recovered, it took about six months and I got back to work. My first traffic stop I can tell you was a little scary for me. Probably more scary for my family. There are agencies, police agencies across the country, that are small in size and they are not able to afford bullet-proof vests or Kevlar for their officers. A lot of times, the officer has to purchase that equipment himself. More often than not, the vests expire after a certain of time but they will continue to wear them because of money or funding and are wearing expired vests. We encourage, our department here in Dover is not a mandatory vest-wear department. It is still optional and we still have officers that do not wear vests believe it or not even though this happened here, close to home.”

 

RUSSEL – I can definitely second what he said. I was back on the job about three and a half months after I was shot. It definitely makes you think more about what can happen. You always know that it can, but when it does happen, it really hits home. But, it is the job and somebody has to do and I have elected to continue to do it. I have the full support of my family and everybody. My wife is incredibly supportive. My department actually changed to a mandatory vest-wear policy after my incident. We had not been mandatory-wear. All officers were issued body armor. My department took another step and upgraded everybody’s armor to a higher threat level after seeing how much damage that round did to my vest and how I was injured, they actually upgraded everybody’s armor. Technologies keep advancing and getting better. It is really important that officers have this gear. It saves lives.”

WHEN THEY ARE REQUIRED, DO THEY CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM ON? ARE THEY UNCOMFORTABLE?

RUSSEL – “They definitely aren’t comfortable. But I would rather be a little uncomfortable and be alive than be real comfortable and dead. I think the vest wear is about 60%. That is 60% of the officers on the street actually wear vests. That leaves 40% of all officers aren’t protected on the street what we come into contact with every day. If you think about that number it is actually really astounding.”

BEGINNING COMPETITION QUESTIONS FOR GORDON:

GIVEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NO. 33, CLINT BOWYER AND THAT TEAM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, DOES THAT PUT YOUR TEAM IN ANY HEIGHTENED AWARENESS OR HEIGHTENED SECURITY TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS BUTTONED UP? “You have to remember, we have experienced what they have gone through in the past. So, we kind of feel like we were the first ones that were made aware of how tight the tolerances are and I’m not exactly sure of what are all the details of what went on there. I know there is an appeal. Because of we’ve been through this, we already are aware that this can happened to any of us at any time and that you really have to build the best race cars you possibly can but they have to be able to go to that (NASCAR) Tech Center and come back to your shop without the phone call from NASCAR.”

IF A CAR PASSES HERE ON SUNDAY, DO YOU THINK THERE ARE OTHER CARS HERE IN THE GARAGE THAT ARE PROBABLY ILLEGAL AND DO YOU THINK THAT DURING THE CHASE, ALL 12 CHASE CARS SHOULD GO TO THE NASCAR TECH CENTER? “I really wish that I had Steve Letarte (crew chief) up here to answer that question because he knows so many more details about the processes, how close those tolerances are. And that is the difference. Here at the track, the tolerances they can only get so close. When they go to the NASCAR Tech Center, they are checking it with lasers. I think that is when they can really get into the details of everything that is going on with those cars. All I can tell you is that since they started that process, it’s made it a whole different ballgame and a whole different process of inspection and how you build your cars. These days for us, we can run a car and we basically have to rebuild the sheet metal on that car just from a race without ever touching a wall. Without ever being hit by the two truck, anything. The body flexes and moves just from the banking or just from the torque, all those things. So, it’s tough for certain areas of the car to meet those tolerances just after a race. I think what I see with this situation, I guess there was something that they noticed after Richmond and so they focused on that area. If you notice, these cars now-days, they are going down the straightaways sideways. We have obviously learned that putting a lot of side force and twisting, we used to twist the bodies, now we are trying to run the car sideways through the toe of the rear-end housing; how we setup the straight line from front to back to basically run the body sideways on the car and that is all legal. We have all figured out how to do that within the rules. Because you realize that is helping the car, then you want to push everything maxed out to figure out how to get more side-force, more down-force. So, there is no doubt that is going to push everybody in the garage area to try to find out where that limit is. I’m not sure if that is what happened with the No. 33. I really don’t want to speculate. There is no doubt that this is racing and teams are always trying to find an edge. I wouldn’t be surprised I if…they don’t take ever car every weekend. It is hard to say how many would pass and how many would fail.”

THE PRECEDENT WAS SET YEARS AGO THAT THEY DON’T TAKE WINS AWAY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THAT IS AND DO YOU THINK THAT THERE IS A GOOD REASON FOR THAT IN CASES SUCH AS THIS? “I’m sure there is a good reason. I don’t know what it is though. I’m not really sure. In my opinion, taking points away, might as well take the win away. I don’t know if I have ever asked that question before to be honest with you. I try to stay pretty clear of any discussion that have to do with points, fines, wins taken away. Those are usually not conversations I have with them.”

DO YOU AGREE THAT A WIN SHOULD STAND IN A CASE LIKE THIS? “There is still an appeal process going on. I think at this point, who knows what is going to happen. But, I don’t know. I have just felt like this is the process that we go through. This is what we know goes on in our sport and that is just the way they do it. Do I agree with it or disagree with it? Gosh, I mean I don’t know. I really don’t know. I would have to think about it a little bit more. Like I said, in my opinion, they’ve already taken the win away. I’m sure if you ask Clint, he would probably say ‘Might as well’ because the penalty is certainly very extreme. I don’t know. It seems like to me like there at least should be an asterisk next to the win.”

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN CHANGE IN THE SPORT BECAUSE WOMEN ARE NOW THE FASTEST GROWING SEGMENT OF THE FAN BASE? “No doubt! With children as well as with females. Yes, I’ve seen that aspect of it change a lot. I guess just from certain sponsors and how they marketed their race teams and their sponsorships, I think back to Proctor and Gamble and Tide, obviously they must have done their research and found there were more women watching than what we thought. I think through sponsorships like that, it has continued to grow. I know I do events all the time and I am amazed at how many females there are at those events who are avid NASCAR fans. That is certainly not something that I saw a lot of when I first started. It is definitely something that has continued to grow over the years and it is fantastic.”

THREE-STRAIGHT TOP-FIVES AT KANSAS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS A GOOD TRACK FOR YOU TO GO PICK UP ANOTHER VICTORY THERE? “I didn’t know that, three straight top-fives, but I like Kansas, I know that. I feel like our mile and a half program is really strong this year. When I look at the 10 races in the Chase, Kansas is one that stands out. One that we are looking forward to going to. We ran well at Chicago and it is probably the closest track to Kansas on the circuit. I just feel like other than Charlotte, we have been really good on the mile and a halves this year. We recognize that we have to get better at Charlotte, but I can’ wait to get to Kansas. It has always been a great track for us. I think we won the first two races there. Like you said, the three top-fives recently so, even when we aren’t at our best, it seems to be one of our good tracks. I think we are much better this year than we have been the last couple of years.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR FIRST TWO WINS AT KANSAS AND WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN CHANGE OUT HERE? “You are dating me now. It seems like it was just yesterday and Kansas still seems like a new track to me still. I think everybody wants to go to a new track, new market and win that race. I know that was certainly the case for us, to win there. Excited about that new track and wanting to be the team that figured it out the best and the fastest. We did that. We certainly had a little bit of luck on our side too. I don’t remember the first year, I just know that we had a great battle with Ryan Newman there. I don’t’ know if it was the first year or the second year. When you go to a new track and you win the first two races there, it certainly gives you a lot of confidence there and makes it one of your favorites. Even better (that there are two races there). Are they both going to be in the Chase? (LAUGHS) Can we have two Kansas races in the Chase? I’ll take that too. (CONTINUES TO LAUGH) All the things that have happened there. If you look at the facility and how that community has grown over the years since we first started going there, it is pretty unbelievable. I think now with the Casino coming, that whole area is just going to explode.”

WITH HAVING AN OWNERSHIP STAKE IN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE CAR? “I like to know what is going on, I do. I don’t want to have too many details because my focus is on driving at that is my job and I don’t want to get too caught up in things. But what happens as a driver, you pull out on pit road to go to practice and you are looking at everybody’s car and you are going ‘Ok, I see something here, I see where their track bar is” and you are feeding that information back to the team. When you get beat, you go back to your team and say ‘Hey, I don’t think our car is as sideways as somebody else’s car. What are we doing to get better in that area? I’m driving as hard as I can. Are we sure that we are maximizing?’ So you question those things. If you question those things, your team is going to give you feed back on what you are doing to improve. So that is why I like to have as much knowledge. If I don’t, I do want people in our organization to know because they need to be able to approve those changes and make sure we are within the tolerances. And if we are not, it is a group effort that we decide to do it and agree on.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THE FUEL GAMBLE TONY STEWART TOOK? “We have a close relationship with the Stewart-Haas team so in talking to them, I don’t think the felt like it was as risky as maybe the rest of us did. For us and our fuel mileage numbers we had, there was no question we couldn’t make or even come close. But those guys had some different numbers so they were doing something to get a little bit extra fuel mileage. Plus with Tony’s track record of stretching it, they felt like there was going to be a couple extra laps there they weren’t expecting.So, they came up short and they certainly are looking back on it wishing they had done some things different. But I don’t’ think at the time they were making the decisions, that they were really looking at is as risky as what we thought it was. It wasn’t even a question for us.”

About Chevrolet: Chevrolet is a global automotive brand, with annual sales of about 3.5 million vehicles in more than 130 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. In the U.S., the Chevrolet portfolio includes: iconic performance cars, such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long lasting pickups and SUVs, such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers, such as Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including the Cruze Eco and Volt, both arriving in late 2010. Cruze Eco will offer up to 40 mpg highway while the Chevrolet Volt will offer up to 40 miles of electric, gas-free driving and an additional 300 miles of extended range (based on GM testing; official EPA estimates not yet available). Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security, and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response, and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models, fuel solutions, and OnStar availability can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

CONCORD, NC (September 23, 2010) — Thursday afternoon, Roush Fenway Racing’s, Matt Kenseth, will travel to Washington D.C. to give thanks to our nation’s “Wounded Warriors.” The visit is coordinated by NASCAR and is an annual visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center before drivers travel to Dover International Speedway for the race weekend. Numerous drivers are expected to attend along with NASCAR dignitaries including NASCAR President Mike Helton.

This year’s event marks NASCAR’s sixth visit to the medical center which allows drivers the chance to visit with patients and their families in the wards. Thanking our servicemen and servicewomen is important for Kenseth and his primary sponsor Crown Royal who both take great pride in honoring our nation’s heroes. Crown Royal recently announced that they would be opening up nominations for deserving members of the military in order to have the spring race at Richmond International Raceway named after them for the “Your Name Here 400”.

“There are no words to describe how special this is for one serviceman or servicewoman,” said Matt Kenseth. “Crown Royal goes the extra step to ensure the individual who wins is treated like royalty throughout race weekend. I encourage all adult race fans to think about their friends and family serving our country and nominate them for this honor.”

Undoubtedly, Kenseth will visit with many deserving members of the military on Thursday and that’s why this yearly visit is so important to him and so many others in NASCAR. Those wishing to nominate a deserving individual can visit www.nascar.com/crownroyal to nominate a hero to

have a race named after him or her.

Kenseth and his No. 17 Crown Royal team will race Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway for the second race of the Chase. Coverage of the AAA 400 from Dover International Speedway will begin on Sunday, September 26th at 1:00 p.m. EST on ESPN with radio coverage provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN.)

About Roush Fenway Racing

Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating eight motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and four in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Colin Braun, Brian Ickler, and Paul Menard. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. Become a fan of Roush Fenway Racing on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow us on Twitter @roushfenway. For sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.

SERVICEMASTER CLEAN ‘BY THE NUMBERS’ FOR DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

0 – fewest ServiceMaster Clean cautions for a race at Dover International Speedway (6/6/71)

4 of the 12 drivers in the Chase have yet to win in 2010

4 – number of ServiceMaster Clean jet dryers available at Dover this weekend

7 of the 27 Sprint Cup races this season have been extended beyond the scheduled distance following a late ServiceMaster Clean caution

11 times the Sprint Cup race winner at The Monster Mile was the only car on the lead lap

12 different Sprint Cup race winners in 2010

16 different Sprint Cup pole winners in 2010

13 – most ServiceMaster Clean cautions for a Sprint Cup race this season (Martinsville)

16 – most ServiceMaster Clean cautions for a Sprint Cup race at Dover (9/19/93)

25 of the 81 Sprint Cup races at The Monster Mile have been won from the front row

31 different race winners in 81 races at Dover

50 minutes – approximate time it takes for the ServiceMaster Clean jet dryers to dry the one-mile, all-concrete Dover track after a significant rainfall

105 of the 193 ServiceMaster Clean cautions in the first 27 Sprint Cup races this season were for accidents; 35 for debris and 25 for spins

193 ServiceMaster Clean cautions in the first 27 Sprint Cup events this season; 235 after 27 races last year

491 – most laps led by a Sprint Cup winner at The Monster Mile (Richard Petty, 500-lap race, 9/15/74)

992 of 7,976 laps completed in the first 27 Sprint Cup races this year have been under a ServiceMaster Clean caution; 1,135 OF 7,636 after 27 races last year

1,409.630 of 10,859.428 miles completed this season in the 27 Sprint Cup races have been under a ServiceMaster Clean caution; 1,587.946 of 10,320.805 after 27 races last year

4,500 ServiceMaster Clean franchise locations around the world

WELCOME, N.C. (September 22, 2010) — The following is a statement from Richard Childress, president and chief executive officer of Richard Childress Racing, regarding NASCAR’s penalty on the No. 33 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team after last week’s race in New Hampshire:

“First of all, I’d like to apologize to our sponsors, our fans and everyone at RCR for the situation that has resulted from this ruling. RCR has a long-standing reputation of integrity on and off the race track. We pride ourselves on working within the rules established by the sanctioning body.

NASCAR informed us after the Richmond race that we were very close to their maximum tolerances. They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Center after that race. It doesn’t make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn’t within NASCAR’s tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required by NASCAR.

We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than 1/16 of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner’s circle. The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That’s the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR’s ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 22, 2010) – NASCAR has issued penalties, suspensions and fines to two teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as a result of rules infractions discovered this week during post-race inspection at the NASCAR Research and Development Center following last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The No. 33 team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-3 (car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications) of the 2010 NASCAR Rule Book.

As a result, crew chief Shane Wilson has been fined $150,000, suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events, suspended from NASCAR until Nov. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Car chief Chad Haney has also been suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events, suspended from NASCAR until Nov. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Driver Clint Bowyer and owner Richard Childress have been penalized with the loss of 150 championship driver and owner points, respectively.

The No. 46 team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1, 12-4-J, and 20-5.8.4.C (engine exhaust valves did not meet the minimum weight requirement) of the 2010 NASCAR Rule Book.

Crew chief Jeremy Lafaver has been fined $50,000, suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup events, suspended from NASCAR until Nov. 3 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Driver Michael McDowell and owner Dusty Whitney have been penalized with the loss of 50 championship driver and owner points, respectively.