JGR, Penske Penalty Hearings Set
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that Matt Kenseth drove to victory in the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway on April 21 failed post-race engine inspection April 23 at the NASCAR Research and Development Center because of the use of a connecting rod that was deemed too light.
Team owner Joe Gibbs stated over the weekend that the team does not plan to appeal the reason for the penalty. Instead they plan to appeal the severity of the penalties, which included the loss of 50 driver and owner points as well as the suspension of the owner’s license for the No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car for the next six championship points events.
“I think everyone at this point has probably heard that in tearing down our motor after last week’s win, one of the connecting rods was found to be light. That goes against the rules and we understand that. We know that there’s going to be a penalty for that," Gibbs said last weekend at Richmond (Va.) Int’l Raceway. “What we’re going to appeal is the severity of the penalties. In looking at that motor and where all the connecting rods were placed and the weight of all the connecting rods, when you have motor experts look at it basically what they would say is there is no advantage to having that one light rod in that motor. That’s one thing that is very important to me is the intent here was not to get an unfair advantage in any way. That’s very important to me."
In addition, the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel will hear the Penske Racing appeal of penalties this Wednesday at the NASCAR Research and Development Center.
The Nos. 2 and 22 Ford’s owned by Penske Racing were found to be in violation of Sections 12-1; 12-4J and 20-12 when they were discovered to have unapproved suspension pieces during pre-race inspection at Texas Motor Speedway on April 13. The fines included 25-point penalties for both Keselowski and Logano.