Five NASCAR Chevy Teams Penalized For Illegal Parts Modifications
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Five NASCAR Chevy teams, including all four Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) entries and one Kaulig Racing (KR) entry, were hit with severe penalties for illegally modified parts.
The decision comes after the sanctioning body confiscated the hood louvres from five NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 race cars last Friday at Phoenix Raceway. These parts were seized from the No. 5 Camaro of Kyle Larson, the No. 48 Camaro of Alex Bowman, the No. 9 Camaro of Josh Berry, the No. 24 Camaro of William Byron and the No. 31 Camaro of Justin Haley.
The hood louvres were found to be in violation of Sections 14.5.4.2.A of the NASCAR Rule Book, which outlines specifications for how the radiator duct of the Next Gen race car is assembled. The aforementioned NASCAR Chevy teams were found to have unapproved modifications to a single-source vendor-supplied part.
As a result, all five NASCAR Chevy teams were hit with L2-level penalties. Each involved crew chief was fined $100,000, and will be suspended from the next four Cup Series races. Each team was also docked 100 team points, 100 driver points and 10 Playoff points, with the exception of the No. 9 Camaro, which is currently being piloted by a substitute driver who earns Xfinity Series points.
The hood louvres were replaced before the Cup Series race on Sunday, and all five Camaro race cars passed pre-race inspection. Byron’s No. 24 Camaro went on to win the race. Prior to the penalties, Bowman’s No. 48 Camaro was leading in points standings, while Byron’s No. 24 Camaro was fourth, followed by Larson’s No. 5 Camaro in fifth. The point deductions have serious championship implications, meaning that the affected NASCAR Chevy teams will have quite the hurdle to overcome.
As a reminder, hood louvres are openings or vents in the hoods that act as a release point for ducts that allow air to transfer out of the radiator. The system was introduced to facilitate improved engine performance while maintaining aerodynamic integrity, and prevents teams from taping off the air intakes and stressing the race car’s engines.
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Didn’t seem to make a difference since the Hendrick cars raced and finished pretty well. 1st place and another in the top 10. Go Chevy
I believe last year in nascar their were more/different winners then ever. Nice seeing these young guys winning. Competition has never been tighter. Single car team won already this year. Not like past yrs where a manufacturer would dominate then nascar would help the other companies to give them the advantage. Cars are the same now.
NASCAR continues to inch closer to just issuing everybody the same car, which is why I quit watching. Spend a little time watching races from the 70’s and 80’s to realize how messed up and boring NASCAR has become.
Ok, let’s go back to races where the winners won by laps and the same guys won all the time. Oh and when drivers were routinely killed in wrecks. yeah sounds great. keep crying y’all are aging out anyway lmao
This is all BS . First Nascar doesnt explain how this is a competitive advantage and second , Chevrolet is dominating ( Toyo & Ford ) are whining so Nascar had to do something to keep the Chevrolets down. All they have done is poke the bear -the Hendricks team will now respond like Dale Earnhardt Sr when he was put a lap down for supposedly spinning Joe Nemecheck out at Charlotte.
NASCAR was much better…when the cars were real cars….does anyone really think a Toyota Camry is competition for ZL1 Camaro or Mustang….it’s was much more interesting to watch when they let the manufacturers duke it out.
Oh for the good ol’ days when Smokey Yunick was using 2″ pipe for a fuel line! I have to agree that it was more interesting when the cars looked more like what was in the showroom. But, it is what it is. It is nice to know that the teams are still trying to “bend the rules”, a.k.a., cheat, if they can get away with it.
If this is the penalty for attempted robbery, it just goes to show why nascar has fallen so far and almost nobody cares anymore. Suppressing innovation by controlling the infinitesimal dimension and installation of everything makes it just another institutionalized sport which is why they are struggling to fill minimum car counts. Take a series like Trans Am TA2 where there is some common component controls, but still some freedom to develop, and there are 40-50cars at some events with much better racing. Unfortunately there isn’t the marketing push behind trans am to get national awareness.
I would much rather watch real Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers, and Corvettes race.
NASCAR has destroyed stock car racing and actually impeaded true development in the sport. I’ve totally given up on them.
What Chevy is NASCAR going to use, when they stop Camaro production in 2024? I love my SS convertible, but I guess I will have to buy another one as a spare.