NASCAR officials announced the date for the appeal process for Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, and Denny Hamlin for three penalties they laid out after the Phoenix race on March 12th.
According to NASCAR.com, the NASCAR sanctioning body said Thursday that Hendrick Motorsports’ appeal of penalties handed to all four of its Cup Series race teams will be heard Wednesday, March 29. On Friday, NASCAR confirmed Kaulig Racing will have its appeal of the No. 31 team’s penalty heard on Wednesday, April 5. Meanwhile Denny Hamlin will have his appeal heard on Thursday, April 6.
Hendrick may have been hit the hardest by the penalties.
NASCAR hit each of Hendrick Motorsports’ four Cup Series teams and the No. 31 team of Kaulig Racing and driver Justin Haley with L2-level penalties for unapproved parts modifications.
That is a no-no. Each crew chief was hit with a $100,000 fine and a four-race suspension.
Each team was further penalized with the loss of 100 team and driver points and 10 playoff points. With the exception of the No. 9 team, which did not lose driver points. That’s because they had a substitute driver who earned Xfinity Series points.
The penalties happened after NASCAR officials took the hood louvers from all five cars before the Cup race at Phoenix Raceway. The Hendrick teams involved were the No. 5 Chevrolet, driven by Kyle Larson, the No. 9 of Josh Berry (who was subbing for the injured Chase Elliott), the No. 24 of William Byron, and the No. 48 of Alex Bowman.
This has to be one of the harshest penalties dealt out by NASCAR in a long time.
It will be interesting to see if NASCAR stands by their penalties or gives Hendrick a break.
