NASCAR confiscates roof flaps from 16 teams (2nd Update)

UPDATE #3 Following a thorough review, NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will not assess penalties to the teams that had to change out the spacers that support the hinge bar of the car's roof flaps last week at Daytona International Speedway. There were 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams and 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series teams that were involved. "We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. "Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted. Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made." NASCAR

07/09/13 NASCAR did not announce any penalties on Tuesday. Any announcement should come by Wednesday afternoon.

07/05/13 The Toyota teams of Michael Waltrip Racing (drivers Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip) and Joe Gibbs Racing (Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin) were among those who had the parts confiscated.

The Ford teams of Penske Racing (Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano), Roush Fenway Racing (Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Carl Edwards), Richard Petty Motorsports (Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola), Germain Racing (Casey Mears) and Wood Brothers Racing (Trevor Bayne) also were nailed for illegal spacers.

The only other team that had pieces confiscated was the Chevrolet car of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s Jamie McMurray.

After the violations were discovered in the Sprint Cup garage, NASCAR went through the Nationwide Series garage and confiscated spacers from 15 cars.

The teams who had pieces confiscated were Joe Gibbs Racing (Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch), Roush Fenway Racing (Trevor Bayne, Travis Pastrana), Richard Petty Motorsports (Michael Annett), TriStar Motorsports (Mike Bliss, Cole Whitt), R3 Motorsports (Robert Richardson, SR2 Motorsports (Blake Koch, Jason White), JD Motorsports (Landon Cassill), Go Green Racing (Jeffrey Earnhardt), KH Motorsports (Dexter Stacey), and Key Motorsports (Reed Sorenson).

07/04/13 Sixteen cars failed inspection before Thursday's Sprint Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR confiscated the teams' roof flaps, which are designed to keep cars on the ground during spins and wrecks at high speeds, for further inspection. Penalties could be possible.

The cars involved included all three Joe Gibbs Racing entries (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth), all three Roush Fenway Racing entries (Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), all three Michael Waltrip Racing entries (Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip) and both Roger Penske Racing entries (Joey Logano and defending series champion Brad Keselowski).

NASCAR inspectors made teams install new, unaltered roof flaps before drivers were allowed on the track for the first of two practices.