Hendrick Motorsports penalties for illegal hood louvers amended by Appeals Panel: Analysis, what It means
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The National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled to amend an L2-level penalty issued by NASCAR to Hendrick Motorsports on Wednesday, altering the severity of the penalties assessed to each Hendrick team for the use of illegally modified hood louvers several weeks ago at Phoenix Raceway. While monetary fines totaling $400,000 and four-race suspensions to each Hendrick crew chief will stand, the appeals panel has overturned the organization’s points penalty, restoring all championship and playoff points to each driver and team.
Following the opening practice of the weekend at Phoenix, NASCAR confiscated the hood louvers belonging to all four Hendrick Motorsports cars, which were then brought back to the sport’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. According to the sanctioning body, the teams were found to have illegally modified a part that deals with how the radiator duct is assembled.
Upon hearing testimony, The National Motorsports Appeals Panel agreed that Hendrick Motorsports had violated rules concerning vehicle assembly as it pertains to the radiator duct. However, the panel opted to restore the 100 points and 10 playoff points that each Hendrick driver and team had been penalized.
What it means for Hendrick
The restoration of points has an immediate and likely season-long effect on the race for the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season championship, as well as on the playoffs in the fall. Alex Bowman is now once again the Cup Series points leader, going from 16th in the standings post-penalty to enjoying a 15-point lead over Ross Chastain.
William Byron now moves to third in points, while Kyle Larson is now ninth. While Chase Elliott remains 32nd in points having missed the last four races with a leg injury, the No. 9 team has moved up to 18th in owner’s points thanks to the efforts of substitute drivers Josh Berry and Jordan Taylor.
While each Hendrick driver will continue to be without their crew chiefs, the four-race suspension to each is already halfway through being served. All four Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs — Cliff Daniels (Kyle Larson), Alan Gustafson (Chase Elliott, No. 9 team), Rudy Fugle (William Byron) and Blake Harris (Alex Bowman) — will be eligible to return at Martinsville Speedway.
“We are grateful to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel for their time and attention,” read a statement by team owner Rick Hendrick. “Today’s outcome reflects the facts, and we’re pleased the panel did the right thing by overturning the points penalty. It validated our concerns regarding unclear communication and other issues we raised. We look forward to focusing on the rest of our season, beginning with this weekend’s race at Richmond.”
What it means for NASCAR
For most of NASCAR’s 75-year history, the sanctioning body operated as a “benevolent dictatorship” with free autocratic reign and was seldom known to go back on or reconsider discipline that had already been assessed. But the creation of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel has introduced more independent oversight into major penalties, and as a result more and more race teams have been successfully arguing that their penalties should either not be so or should be less severe.
In the past 15 months, the Appeals Panel has either overturned or lessened penalties issued by NASCAR on five different occasions. One of the most notable instances came in the Xfinity Series, when Jeremy Clements’ team successfully argued that a deviation in the intake manifold of their Daytona-winning engine had actually done the opposite of give them a competitive advantage. All penalties stemming from the engine irregularity were reversed, putting Clements and his family-owned team back in the Xfinity playoffs.
Since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, NASCAR has been steadfast in both promising and doling out strict penalties to any team that modifies a spec Next Gen car part from a single-source supplier — a step the sport has taken in an effort to take parts manufacturing out of race teams’ hands in the name of a new, more sustainable business model.
While it’s too early to tell whether the amendment to Hendrick’s penalties undermines the sanctioning body’s cause, NASCAR issued a statement expressing disappointment with the ruling.
“We are pleased that the National Motorsports Appeals Panel agreed the Hendrick Motorsports violated the rule book. However, we are disappointed that the entirety of the penalty was not upheld,” read the statement. “A points penalty is a strong deterrent that is necessary to govern the garage following rule book violations, and we believe that it was an important part of the penalty in this case and moving forward.
“We will continue to inspect and officiate the NASCAR garage at the highest level of scrutiny to ensure a fair and level playing field for our fans and the garage area.”
Complicating matters for NASCAR is that this ruling also opens the door for Kaulig Racing, whose No. 31 team received the same penalty for modifying their hood louvers, to have their penalty amended as well. Kaulig Racing’s appeal is scheduled to be heard on April 5.