Penske Racing appeal for violations set for May 1

A three-member appeals board appointed by NASCAR has set May 1 as the date for the Penske Racing appeal of points penalties, fines and suspensions for violations uncovered April 13 at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR penalized both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano 25 points in the driver and owner standings, fined crew chiefs Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon $100,000 and suspended Wolfe, Gordon, car chiefs Jerry Kelley and Raymond Fox, engineers Brian Wilson and Samuel Stanley and Penske competition director Travis Geisler for six points races. All seven of those suspended were put on probation through Dec. 31. NASCAR has deferred the suspensions pending the outcome of the appeal.

The penalties are for a rear suspension assembly that NASCAR said violated rules requiring all parts and assemblies be approved by NASCAR and that nothing can be developed that would make the rear suspension rotate abnormally. NASCAR confiscated the parts and pieces, which also violated rules limiting them to single mounting holes, prior to the Cup race at Texas. "I certainly don't think it's cheating," team owner Roger Penske told The Associated Press on Saturday at the IndyCar race in Long Beach. "You are looking at the rules and you are working in a gray area.

"We all work in the gray areas. We're trying to be as competitive as we can be, we've got very creative minds and it takes a lot of creative minds to be competitive."