Racing NASCAR Confiscates Sixteen Roof Flap Spacers

[ranbethscards]

SPEED and FOX Report:

Sixteen teams found with modified roof flap spacers: Sixteen teams found to have modified roof flap spacers (lighter) during NASCAR inspection. Teams listed: #1-McMurray, #2-Keselowski, #9-Ambrose, #11-Hamlin, #13-Mears, #15-Bowyer, #16-Biffle, #17-Stenhouse Jr., #18-Busch, #20-Kenseth, #21-Bayne, #22-Logano, #43-Almirola, #55-Waltrip, #56-Truex Jr. and #99-Edwards. The modified/confiscated roof-flap spacers are on display at Daytona in the NASCAR hauler. NASCAR's Kerry Tharp addressed media on confiscated roof-flap spacers - "Spacers not in compliance with those kits." The roof-flap kits are supplied to teams for #NASCAR by one company (a Roush company) and are not to be changed.

AND Sixteen cars failed inspection before Thursday's Sprint Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR confiscated the teams' roof flaps, which are designed to keep cars on the ground during spins and wrecks at high speeds, for further inspection. Penalties could be possible. NASCAR inspectors made teams install new, unaltered roof flaps before drivers were allowed on the track for the first of two practices.

Hmmmm... so the cars named are almost an automatic "IN" for each race, which means that 39% of the field was fitted with modified spacers.

This is NOT a team problem, it is a manufacturer problem. I hope NASCAR sees it the same way and hands out NO penalties next week.

 

[ranbethscards]

... and it was reported this morning that 15 Nationwide Teams had the same parts confiscated by NASCAR.

The teams who had pieces confiscated were Joe Gibbs Racing (Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch), Roush Fenway Racing (Trevor Bayne, Travis Pastrana), Richard Petty Motorsports (Michael Annett), TriStar Motorsports (Mike Bliss, Cole Whitt), R3 Motorsports (Robert Richardson, SR2 Motorsports (Blake Koch, Jason White), JD Motorsports (Landon Cassill), Go Green Racing (Jeffrey Earnhardt), KH Motorsports (Dexter Stacey), and Key Motorsports (Reed Sorenson).

With 43 cars entered into the race... this equates to 35% of the entries... once again I must say... THIS IS NOT A TEAM ISSUE... THIS IS A MANUFACTURER PROBLEM!

 

[ranbethscards]

Update From Jayski.com:

#18 Crew Chief says illegal roof laps offer no advantage: "...the modification has "no advantage" at Daytona International Speedway. "There are no gains being made on superspeedways," Dave Rogers, crew chief for #18-Kyle Busch, said Friday on The Morning Drive SiriusXM program. "The advantage is 3 ounces of weight you saved up high in your roof.

Seriously? THREE OUNCES?

What's next? Is NASCAR going to do pre-race and post-race inspections of the drivers to make sure they have socks and underwear on? Kenseth's briefs are two ounces lighter than Gordon's boxers.

 

[ranbethscards]

Well... Tuesday came and went... NO penalties.

Oh, lucky us... NASCAR announced late yesterday that penalties are expected to be announced before noon on Wednesday (July 10).

 

[IQless1]

NASCAR flexing it's muscles. If they didn't, the teams would take advantage of anything they could, right?

I'm guessing there's a safety issue here, as the modified spacers are likely to be much weaker now, meaning in the event they are needed, they may fail. If they fail, and the flaps break off, they could fly into other cars, potentially killing someone.

That's my guess, anyway.

 

[ranbethscards]

Jayski.com is reporting:

No penalties after Daytona: Following a thorough review, NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will not assess penalties to the teams that had to change out the spacers that support the hinge bar of the car's roof flaps last week at Daytona International Speedway. There were 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams and 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series teams that were involved. "We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted. Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made."

Yeah, I figured as much.. how was NASCAR going to penalize 31 teams due to the manufacturers mistake?
.