For the second consecutive year, a high-profile NASCAR crew chief will be watching the Daytona 500 from his sofa.
Only this year, he'll have company.
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| Jimmie Johnson lost crew chief Chad Knaus last year to a suspension before Daytona. (US Presswire) |
The quartet will miss this week's Daytona 500, with Reiser and Francis sidelined three more races and Childers and Brown out one more week after Daytona.
After NASCAR suspended and fined Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, four races last season when J.J.'s rear window was found to be an illegal height, it's a mystery why anyone would try to cheat again a year later.
Especially in qualifying at Daytona, where with the advent of restrictor-plate racing at a back-of-the-pack starting spot isn't an obstacle because of bump-drafting.
Nevertheless, four more chiefs were caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
NASCAR had warned the garage area that indiscretions would be severely punished, and Tuesday it lived up to the warning.
"It's our job to escalate penalties," NASCAR CEO Brian France said. "It will be undeniable that when you keep pushing the system and test the integrity of the sport, we will do whatever it takes.
"It doesn't mean you go out and get somebody in the electric chair, but it does mean you step up penalties that make it a true deterrent. Even when we do that, somebody without much to lose or somebody that thinks they're smarter than somebody else will always try."
While NASCAR's vice president of competition Robin Pemberton doesn't condone the actions taken by the four crew chiefs, he certainly understands the motivation.
"There's a lot of pressure to perform here," he said. "It is Daytona. Everybody pushes the limit all the time. It's highly competitive. These guys are going to do everything they can to take everything right to the edge. It's the biggest race of the year."
The penalties were a severe blow to Evernham Motorsports, which lost all three of its crew chiefs for drivers Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Scott Riggs.
