#8 Penalty Handed Down.....OUCH

[HOF#13]

Well here it is....NASCAR is not messing around this year!!! As an #8 fan, I'm not complaining. Eury Jr. cheated and now the team has to pay the price.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For a change, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and not driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making big news.

Eury on Tuesday was fined $100,000 and suspended for six weeks after NASCAR discovered the rear wing mounts on the famous No. 8 were illegal before Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Darlington Raceway, according to a source close to the situation.

Also, Earnhardt's team was docked 100 championship points to drop him from 12th to 14th in the standings and Dale Earnhardt Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt was docked 100 owners' points.

Eury was allowed to replace the mounts before the race and Earnhardt was allowed to keep his 21st starting position. He finished eighth.

The penalty was another sign that NASCAR will not tolerate cheating. Crew chiefs Kenny Francis [Kasey Kahne] and Robbie Reiser [Matt Kenseth] were fined $50,000 and suspended for four races each after failing post-qualifying inspection at Daytona.

Their drivers were docked 50 points each.

Michael Waltrip was docked 100 points and his crew chief and competition director suspended indefinitely after an illegal substance was discovered in Waltrip's car prior to qualifying for the Daytona 500.

The penalties against Earnhardt's team were the first major infractions passed out involving the Car of Tomorrow.

NASCAR confiscated the wing mounts on Saturday before the race was postponed until Sunday due to rain.

Eury called it an "interpretation."

"It was a bad deal," he said after the race. "It was a part that got put on there that shouldn't have. We've done a lot of offseason testing for NASCAR. There's been three different styles of brackets on there and it just happened to be one of those old-style brackets."

Eury said the brackets were the same ones that weren't discovered during pre- or post-qualifying inspections.

"It fit all of their templates," he said. "It just had a problem when you put [the angle] to where you should have."

Eury said he tried to explain how to fix the problem to series director John Darby and that it was not done on purpose.

Earnhardt, who on Thursday became the most famous free agent in NASCAR history when he announced this would be his last season for DEI, offered to pay the fine.

"Whatever he needs me to do," Earnhardt said. "I don't really know what he was trying to accomplish there. We still ran all right with the stock positions."

[harvey lee]

I'm a big #8 fan but, they got what they deserved. These teams will have to learn to follow the rules to the T. All of them.

[Sifty]

Boy they sure are making the point of not pushing the rules with fines and point deductions like these.

Sifty

[LMITOUT]

Thirteen additional pounds of downforce they equated those other brackets to. Wow. Stop the presses.

[harvey lee]

That is a bunch of extra downforce. Anytime you move weight on the car to another spot it helps handling.

[LMITOUT]

13, not 130.

You can push that hard with your hand without much effort and is equal to about 2 gallons of gas. If they were going to cheat on purpose, it would be more than 13lbs of downforce. Big deal. Not worthy the penalty IMO.

[harvey lee]

What is NASCAR suppose to say, you can cheat this far and then you have to stop. The law is the law and they got caught across that line. They have all been warned by NASCAR and Eury chose to take the chance and now they have to pay the price.

No time to cry now. All teams know what they are doing when they go to far. They just figure they will not get caught.

Sad part is, Jr had a good car and didnt need to do that.

Whether its 13 #'s or say 1/4 # of air, both will give you just enough extra in handling to win. If, that little didnt matter, they would not have tried to get away with it.

[LMITOUT]

I wouldn't say they were trying to get away with anything as they said it was a mistake. Now, how much you want to believe that claim is up for speculation, but it was so slight of an advantage it's hard for me to believe it was on purpose and "trying to get away with it."

Like I said, if you're going to take the chance and cheat, then cheat good! Eury wasn't even at the track when this was found. It even went through TWO inspections before it was noticed. If that's the case, how much other stuff are other teams getting away with?? So much for their touted inspection process.

Was it an advantage? I suppose it is even as small as it is, and therefore a penalty must be paid, but that penalty doesn't fit this crime.

I never said they shouldn't be punished. My beef is the severity of the punishment. My other beef is the allegations that they did this on purpose because I don't see 13 lbs of "advantage" worth the risk and I doubt they do either.

[harvey lee]

I know what your saying Dan but, NASCAR has to start to send a message and they are the ones that are going down.

Harsh penalty for sure but, they have all been warned.

[Coach Dog]

Not a JR fan at all, but 100 points is a bit over the top. I could see 25 or maybe 50, but 100 points to the most popular driver that knocks him out of the chase race is surprising. I guess they want it shown that they are serious.

[lawdog]

I figured it would be in this 100 point range as NASCAR has repeatedly said this car is not to be messed with and the aero is one of the biggest issues with it and exactly where this cheating occured. I think with this car, aero/template issues are right up there where fuel and traction control has always been, the ultimate taboo's. Plus it doesn't help their cause how much Jr. has been complaining about this car and how it needed to be made better. It really makes them look bad when he's caught with the illegal stuff as much as he's wined about this car.

[LMITOUT]

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Plus it doesn't help their cause how much Jr. has been complaining about this car and how it needed to be made better.

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Funny how NASCAR has a knack of pinching the teams that are complaining, and this isn't the first time that's happened. Who's up in the tower anyway? Vince McMahon or Brian France?

[Coach Dog]

Vince McMahon! That's hilarious! Him and France should do some PR work together and change job positions for a month. That would definitely gauge some interest amongst the Nascar/WWE nation.

[eagle_3464]

Mistake or not, if you outside of the rules there should be a penalty. I am a #8 fan and have no objections about this penalty. These guys are professional and so-called mistakes like this are unacceptable. The problem I have is how can you let one team slide for a so-called mistake and penalize another. Why was Gordon's team not penalized points for the so-called assembly error dropping the rear spoiler out of the air at Daytona? The car did not fit the rules so it should have been penalized. Bottom line is NASCAR NEEDS to be consistent or their ratings will continue to drop because people are getting sick of the WWE effect.

[Cyberfish]

They already had Hulk Hogan on one of them this year!

[TNFL]

I've said it before, hendrick is just better at playing dumb when it comes to cheating. They claimed the nut came loose during the race and that is what dropped the rear end. You can't really penalize for stuff like that, stuff that happens during the race. Because then any car that crashes a little is suddenly "out of template" should they be fined? Again, it leads to knowing how to work the gray area. And an illegal aero part is not gray area. Simple as that.

[PierBridge]

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The problem I have is how can you let one team slide for a so-called mistake and penalize another. Why was Gordon's team not penalized points for the so-called assembly error dropping the rear spoiler out of the air at Daytona?

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You would have to pay attention or actually follow Nascar to understand the difference.

[TNFL]

LOL

[Uncle Bill]

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You would have to pay attention or actually follow Nascar to understand the difference.

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Once again, some folks can't resist getting in the personal cheap shot from behind a computer screen.

Kinda like gordon taking his cheap shots with a full face helmet on.

[harvey lee]

I'm glad this is all in fun. Sometimes I worry that someone will feel offended. We dont want that as this is way too much fun.

[TNFL]

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Kinda like gordon taking his cheap shots with a full face helmet on.

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Kind of like on the same day kennseth taking a cheap shot at the 24's rear end with his front bumper!

[snowman678]

kinda like the time the 24 took a cheapshot on the 17's rear-end w/ his front bumper! This game is kind of fun, we could keep going for days.

[TNFL]

yeah well, paybacks are a .................