Waltrip team fined just $25K

NASCAR may have a new championship points system but there’s a very familiar problem plaguing the sanctioning body only one week into the 2011 season.

How to handle a winning car – or truck – that doesn’t pass post-race inspection. You can cheat every race, go down as the winner of every race, pocket the winner's share of the purse and then pay a small fraction of it back in a fine. No wonder there are so many cheaters in NASCAR – where cheaters do indeed prosper.

Michael Waltrip’s ride was found to have a broken spoiler after he took the checkered flag in last Friday night’s thrilling Camping World Truck Series opener at Daytona.

The spoiler on the back of Waltrip’s deck lid was lying flat when he pulled into victory lane and did not meet the minimum angle requirements by NASCAR.

Waltrip's team took home a cool $73,275 to win last Friday. On Wednesday NASCAR took 25 owner points away from team head Billy Ballew as well as fining crew chief Doug Howe $25,000 and placing him on probation through the of the season. That's a nice profit of $48,000, more than Elliott Sadler received for finishing 2nd.