On NASCAR’s Hot Seat Once Again Hendrick Motorsports Now Out Nearly Half A Million Dollars

You have to imagine that NASCAR powerhouse team Hendrick Motorsports is starting to feel a little light in their pocketbook.

Thursday NASCAR fined two of its teams, the No. 24 and No. 48 crew chief’s $75,000 each in addition to suspending those crew chiefs for two more races and given 60 owner points and five playoff driver points losses after infractions were found on the cars after they taken after the race for further inspection to NASCAR’s R&D Center in North Carolina as part of the usual post-race inspection process.

According to NASCAR that further inspection revealed an issue with violated section 14.1.D Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules and 14.1.2.B Engineering Change Log in the NASCAR Rule Book. A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed that the penalty was for a modification to the greenhouse area on each car. That area is the cockpit where the driver sits.

The penalties are the second for the teams who were also penalized after the March race in Phoenix after NASCAR found the hood louvers on the team’s 4 cars were illegal. They allowed the team to change them prior to the race, which was won by Byron.

NASCAR then took the louvers back to the R&D Center. Later in the week they penalized all four Cup Series teams, along with the No. 31 team of Kaulig Racing, with L2-level penalties. Each crew chief was fined $100,000 and suspended for four races, and three of the Hendrick teams were further penalized with the loss of 100 driver points and 10 playoff points.

The team said they would appeal and a week after that penalty was announced Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews along with vice president of competition Chad Knaus met with the media. Knaus said the team hadn’t exactly decided how their appeal argument will be laid out, saying “honestly it’s pretty messy right now.”

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They further laid out their case to the media, then met with the appeal board on March 29^th and won a partial appeal. The appeal panel’s decision upheld the fines of $100,000, as well as the four-race suspensions handed down to the four crew chiefs. However, each team was restored 100 owners points and 10 playoff points. Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Alex Bowman receive the same points back from the initial reduction.

The team said the crew chief’s suspension wouldn’t be appealed and the crew chiefs began serving their penalties starting at Atlanta. Originally, the team’s respective crew chiefs (Brian Campe and Greg Ives) would have been over by the Martinsville race on April 16. However, Thursday’s announcement said the latest suspensions would begin April 13, meaning both crew chiefs will now be out until at least the April 30^th race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hedrick driver Kyle Larson won the race at Richmond, Bowman was 8^th, and Byron finished 24^th.

After Richmond Bowman led the Cup Series standings while Byron was in fourth place, 35 points behind but with two race wins to his credit this season.

Whether Hendrick Motorsports plans to appeal these latest penalties remains to be seen, the team released a statement shortly after the announcement:

“We are reviewing the penalties issued today by NASCAR and will determine next steps following Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.”

And if the team makes their case to the media will have to wait until the teams and the media are at Bristol starting Friday.

Either way, the last appeal still ended up costing them $400,000, the largest team fine in NASCAR history. Should the additional $125,000 combined fines stand, the team will now have lost nearly half a million dollars with 28 races left in the season.