Kaulig Racing will have to live with most of NASCAR’s original penalty.
The National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled Wednesday that Kaulig Racing had indeed illegally modified a single-source vendor supplied part (hood louvers) on the 31 car — agreeing with NASCAR when the sanctioning body doled out the penalty last month.
But the appeals panel also amended the consequences that NASCAR announced in accordance with the L2 infraction. The new penalty is the following:
— $100,000 fine and four-race suspension for crew chief Trent Owens (unchanged from NASCAR’s original ruling)
— Loss of 75 NASCAR Cup Series team owner and driver points (reduced from NASCAR’s original 100 owner/driver points deduction)
— Loss of 10 NASCAR Cup Series team owner and driver playoff points (unchanged from NASCAR’s original ruling)
Notably, this decision comes a week after Hendrick Motorsports saw its points penalties rescinded for the same infraction.
In the Hendrick case, the 100 driver points that NASCAR initially took away from each of the three penalized HMS Cup teams were restored — and that shot the No. 5 team (Kyle Larson), the No. 24 team (William Byron) and the No. 48 team (Alex Bowman) back up near the top of the Cup Series points standings.
That appeal result irked drivers and crew chiefs and others throughout the garage area. Drivers said it essentially rendered one of NASCAR’s biggest offseason emphases — don’t modify single-source supplier parts — ineffectual.
It’s also worth noting that the difference in ruling, some might say, reflects an unwritten double-standard in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“More money, more lawyers, better lawyers,” Kyle Busch told reporters last week at Richmond Raceway in response to the HMS appeals result.
Like in HMS’s appeals decision announcement, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel did not provide justification for its decision on Kaulig Racing’s appeal on Wednesday.
The only difference between the Hendrick and Kaulig appeals were the NMAP members on hand. On Wednesday, those were Hunter Nickell, Shawna Robinson and Steve York.
Kaulig Racing president speaks out on NASCAR penalties
Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice addressed the penalties that the appeals panel upheld on FS1’s Race Hub show Wednesday evening.
“It’s disheartening,” Rice said. He added, “You know what goes on in the garage. You know what happens. With single-source suppliers and knowing all the rules (around them) and different things, it’s really tough nowadays. I’m not gonna lie: I stand behind my guys. I stand behind everyone at Kaulig Racing that we upheld the rules, and we did what we know is legal.”
Rice added that out of respect for the process he didn’t want to get into what he and his team argued during Wednesday’s appeal. That said, Rice explained that he was in communication with Jeff Gordon, Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, this week to exchange notes on how HMS got its favorable ruling last week.
Rice also added that all three of the penalties — not just the points penalties — are “devastating” to a race team like Kaulig, which just established its Cup program last year.
“The $100,000 fine to a budget is also something that’s pretty tough,” Rice said. “I do understand that we want tough penalties when the crime (warrants it). I do understand that. And I do respect that. But when you look at everything that has gone down over the last couple weeks, you just kind of go, ‘Man that is disheartening that Kaulig Racing is sitting here in this position.’”
Kaulig Racing has the chance to make one last appeal to the final appeals officer, which is in this case is Langley Speedway promotor Bill Mullis.
Rice indicated that the race team will likely take advantage of that opportunity.
“We’ll make an announcement in the morning, but I think you can tell from my feelings and where I’m sitting at that you know that we’ll probably continue on the path of trying to fight this,” Rice said.
He then added, “I owe it to everybody at Kaulig Racing, man.”
