NASCAR to close loophole on suspensions

UPDATE This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter told members of the media Thursday at Daytona International Speedway that crew chiefs serving suspensions for rules infractions no longer will be allowed on race track property while their suspensions are in effect.

"We’re going to handle this the way we’ve handled it in the past, with (Nextel Cup Series director) John Darby and (vice president of competition) Robin Pemberton informing the crew chiefs," Hunter said. "Instead of ‘Yeah, you can do that,’ it’s ‘No, you can’t do that any more.’ We want to take away the perception that they’re circumventing the penalty, that the penalty doesn’t mean anything because they’re still on site…With people thinking that this is a circumvention of the penalty, the next step is, ‘What do you do about it?’"

07/03/07 Even though NASCAR has suspended several Nextel Cup crew chiefs this year, those crew chiefs have continued to be near the track and in communication with their respective teams.

Last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway, for example, Tony Eury Jr. was in a motorhome outside the track, and his driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., even spotted him during the Lenox Industrial Tools 300.

But NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said on a national teleconference Tuesday that practice could be changing. He was asked about crew chiefs being on track property and being in communication with their teams.

"Funny you ask," he said. "We just had a meeting on that today with [NASCAR President] Mike Helton, myself and others," France said. "If that all is accurate, we will be addressing that shortly."

France didn't say what NASCAR would do to police the practice but did say he agreed it was not in the spirit of suspensions. Scenedaily.com