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Intent is the difference between 29 and 5/48 infractions
| McReynolds: What the 29 team did |
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The fuel cell holds 22 gallons of gas, and the car has to weigh 3,400 pounds. If you qualify with only four gallons — as the 29 team did — you can place roughly 125 pounds of lead ballast around the car to handle better for two laps of qualifying. When qualifying is over, you pull out the extra lead and fill up the car with fuel. It's something that teams have done for years. But this year, NASCAR said teams have to qualify with a full tank of fuel. How do they check that you have a full load of fuel? There's a clear overflow hose coming out of the top of the fuel cell that goes to a little vent pipe in the quarter panel. They opened the trunk and did a visual check before qualifying to make sure that everyone's filler hose was full of fuel. The 29 team plugged the overflow hose and filled it up, but they didn't plan on NASCAR opening the decklid after qualifying and seeing that the hose was still full of fuel. If they ran three laps, and it was still full, it appears that they didn't use any fuel at all. That was 4 1/2 miles and should have been a gallon of fuel. NASCAR started probing deeper and figured out that the overflow hose had been plugged. NASCAR wasn't very happy, and Berrier probably didn't do himself any good when he said the rule read the vent tube had to be full of fuel. That's like spitting at NASCAR. |
NASCAR severely penalized the 29 team and crew chief Todd Berrier in particular because qualifying with a full load of fuel is part of the new impound procedure. NASCAR didn't impound cars at Las Vegas, but the sanctioning body is trying to establish consistency for the future when cars will be impounded at all Nextel Cup races, just as Busch cars and Craftsman Trucks are impounded now.
When you impound cars, you qualify with a full load of fuel because NASCAR only allows teams to top off the tank with a small amount of fuel, depending on the size of the track. You wouldn't want to start the race with three or four gallons. As Darrell Waltrip pointed out, I was surprised that the Nextel Cup officials didn't make Harvick start with four gallons of fuel because NASCAR feels like the 29 team made a mockery of of this new weekend procedure.
The 29 team received a $25,000 fine and lost the standard 25 driver and owner points. But after suspending Shane Hmiel's Busch crew chief, Todd Lohse, for four races after an unintentional roof-flap infraction at Fontana, they suspended Berrier for four weeks. I would have been totally shocked if they hadn't. I have nothing against Berrier, but I'm just stating what I felt NASCAR would do — not what they should do — but what they probably would do as they try to establish consistent rulings.
Berrier and Richard Childress will appeal the penalty, but what are they appealing? It was obviously an intentional infraction.
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No intent with the 48 & 5
I'm confident that the 48 and 5 teams didn't do anything intentional, and when cars haven't met the height requirements in qualifying sessions and races, NASCAR hasn't taken away their positions. I didn't expect NASCAR to suspend Alan Gustafson, Busch's crew chief, or Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief.NASCAR found two different things — he 48 was low and the 5 was high. NASCAR measures the height of the car 10 inches back from the center of the windshield on the roof, and it has to be a minimum of 51 inches. Over the course of a 400- or 500-mile race, or three to four hours of racing, things settle and go down a little bit so teams are allowed a 1/4 inch of tolerance. They don't care if it's more than 51 inches. It just can't be lower than 50 3/4 inches, tolerance included.
The 48 car was lower than 50 3/4 inches. The laws of physics say the lower the better so that's why NASCAR monitors a minimum and not a maximum. What happened? These cars run very soft springs in the front and a very aggressive shock setup. One of the springs may have yielded a little bit, losing a little height.
| Speed Mail Larry McReynolds |
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What happened to the 5 car? On many pit stops, teams adjust the wedge bolts in the rear window. If Kyle Busch was fighting a tight condition, Gustafson may have decided to take wedge out of the car by turning down on the right rear jackbolt which raises the rear of the car. If Gustafson was right on 35 and 36 before the race, and he put several rounds in the right rear, it probably made the quarter panel height too high.
FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.
"Larry McReynolds: The Big Picture" is on bookstore shelves now, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.
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