The No.33 Richard Childress Racing team is hurting right now.
NASCAR officials have penalized Clint Bowyer and the Richard Childress Racing Team 150 points after finding infractions with his winning car, according to Fox Sports. After winning Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR reviewed the car in its research and development center.
The 150-point penalization moved Bowyer from second place in the point standings to 12th place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Team owner Richard Childress was penalized 150 owner points while crew chief Shane Wilson was suspended for the next six Sprint Cup events and received a $150,000 fine.
Bowyer’s winning-car was penalized for “car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis [which] did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications,” according to the report. However, this may not be the team’s fault.
Childress plans on appealing the fines, questioning the car’s damage and explaining that it left the shop within NASCAR restrictions.
"NASCAR informed us after the Richmond race that we were very close to their maximum tolerances," Childress said in a statement. "They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Center after that race. It doesn't make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn't within NASCAR's tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required by NASCAR.
"We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than one-sixteenth of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner's circle," Childress added. "The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That's the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR's ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be."
