Bowyer and #33 RCR Team Slammed with Big Penalty Following Big Win



Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/ Getty Images for NASCAR


Last Sunday's Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup event at New Hampshire International Speedway had all the fireworks needed in a first race of ten in the 2010 NASCAR Chase for the Cup. Tension on track, a meltdown by some Chase contenders and the rise of other Chase drivers. Through a fuel mileage gamble, Clint Bowyer and the #33 Richard Childress Racing team were on top of the world as they collectively propelled their team's Chevrolet to victory. However, three days after the celebration for the team which which fought to hold on to the final 12th place spot to make the Chase, the #33 team received news Wednesday afternoon from NASCAR reversing the organization's pride after Loudon, New Hampshire.

Dating back to post-race inspection at the previous race of Richmond, NASCAR measured an area of the #33 Chevrolet being out of the allotted tolererances. Penalized in relations to rule violations relating to non-conforming race equipment and for having an area of the race car exceeding maximum measurement.

Docking 150 points from driver Clint Bowyer as well as the #33 team, the punishment had a further-reaching impact on their Richard Childress Racing team suspending crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney for 6 Sprint Cup race events. Wilson is also on the hook for a monetary fine of $150,000 penalty as responsible for the #33 Chevy. As a final dishonour, the winning #33 Chevrolet has been confiscated by NASCAR for further study as their R&D facility. Sounding like a harsh sentence handed down by the stock car racing sanctioning body, this penalty is consistent with a similar 150-point punishment levied against the #1 car of then-DEI on a roof height infraction after the July Daytona event in 2008.

Reacting to the news through the team's official website, team owner Richard Childress admirably shared embarrassment for the NASCAR decision. “First of all, I’d like to apologize to our sponsors, our fans and everyone at RCR for the situation that has resulted from this ruling. RCR has a long-standing reputation of integrity on and off the race track. We pride ourselves on working within the rules established by the sanctioning body." Childress went on to state that the rule infraction regarded a measurement 6/100th (.060) of an inch off NASCAR baseline. Equating to just 0.0025 inches outside of the rules, the car owner disputes that the #33 car out of spec measurement (which resided just outside of the 1/16 inch tolerances) was the result of damage on the track.  

With points deducted from the reset Chase points standings, it does seem interesting why NASCAR had announced the rule violation after more than a week and a half following the Richmond event. Sealing his valuable Chase spot by only 98 points ahead of Ryan Newman, if points were deducted prior to the New Hampshire event the #33 Chevrolet would have been logically dropped from the 2010 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in favour of the #39 team piloted by Newman. Regarding Chase qualification like a win (which NASCAR never considers taking away from a driver and team even when rule violations aree found) NASCAR's Robin Pemberton states "For now we'll leave the winners as they come off the racetrack, and we will fine people accordingly as we do throughout the year."

Dale Earnhardt Jr takes #3 to Daytona Nationwide Win

Photo Credit: Jeff Markland/ Getty Images for NASCAR

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR ire Service

(July 2, 2010)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Driving the No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet in honor of his late father, Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke a NASCAR Nationwide Series drought of almost four years in winning Friday night's Subway Jalapeno 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Earnhardt's emotional win was the result of a collaboration between owner Richard Childress, Teresa Earnhardt, JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports, which supplied the engine for the No. 3 car.

The victory, the 23rd of Earnhardt's career, was his first in the series since Aug. 19, 2006, when he took the checkered flag at Michigan. It was his first points win in any of NASCAR's top three series since June 15, 2008, when Earnhardt captured the Lifelock 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, again at Michigan.

In a race that saw the debut of NASCAR's new Nationwide Series car, Earnhardt held off runner-up Joey Logano and third-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race two laps beyond its scheduled distance of 100 laps.

"I was so worried that I wasn't going to win, 'cause nothing but a win would get it—for everybody," Earnhardt said after getting hugs from Childress, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and a multitude of others in victory lane. "If we didn't win, what a waste of time. …

"I worked hard to try to win, not only for daddy—I'm proud of him going to the Hall of Fame, and he would be proud of this, I'm sure—but just all these fans. I hope they enjoyed this. This is it—no more '3' for me. That's it."

With a push from Justin Allgaier, Earnhardt took the lead for the first time on Lap 70, surging past Kyle Busch through Turns 1 and 2. On that same lap, NASCAR called a caution for debris on the backstretch. Pitting under the caution, Earnhardt retained his lead, thanks to a quick, problem-free stop by Earnhardt's No. 88 Sprint Cup crew, which volunteered for the race.

Earnhardt held the top spot through Lap 96, when NASCAR threw a debris caution that set up a two-lap run to the finish. Earnhardt stayed out on old tires, as did seven other contending cars, but Busch, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman came to the pits for tires under the yellow.

The strategy didn't work for those drivers, as track position proved more beneficial that fresh rubber. Points leader Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick ran fourth and fifth, respectively, on old tires. Keselowski extended his margin in the standings to 277 points over second-place Edwards, who finished 11th Saturday.

But the day belonged to Earnhardt.

"It's emotional," he said. "I'm proud of myself. I'm proud to have done what I did with this group."

Childress, who won six Sprint Cup championships as Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s car owner, told Earnhardt Jr. his father would have been proud.

"He just said that daddy would have been happy, real happy," Earnhardt said. "And who would know better than him?"

Photo Credit: John Harrelson/ Getty Images for NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson Turns California Dreams into Reality in Auto Club 500

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR


The second race off the year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup 2010 season, the tour was taken cross-country from Daytona Beach to the west coast state of California. Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray proceeded to the track at a more leisurely pace to the Auto Club Speedway thanks to a week-long press junket. This post-Daytona 500 media tour for Jamie McMurray made it even more impressive that McMurray skated his #1 Chevrolet to pole for Friday afternoon qualifying. With Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya starting on the front row, Montoya bypassed McMurray on the first lap of the race. The #42 of Montoya held the top spot through the first 29 laps.

The Auto Club Speedway has become a stomping ground for Jimmie Johnson. Not only is the 2-mile oval located in the home state of the 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, his Lowes sponsored #48 Chevrolet holds an average finish of 3.75 in the last 8 races held on the Penske-built speedway situated on former Fontana industrial land. Johnson's presence emerged early in the Auto Club 500 as he took 1st place away from Montoya on lap 30.

Caution-free for 58 laps, the first caution came out for debris on the racetrack. While the Sprint Cup teams were able to change tires and refuel under the lap 59 caution, a multitude of green flag pit stops contributed to many of the 26 lead changes through the event. However, regardless of caution or green flag period, too many drivers and teams at Auto Club Speedway were confronted by NASCAR's aggressive policing of pit road. With 15 penalties levied against Danny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and others, one incident involved Kevin Harvick's car and a pit crew member of the #1 team. As Harvick's #29 car was leaving pit road on a lap 94 stop, a tight exit resulted in Harvick launching into the path of a crew member and a tire from Jamie McMurray's #1 Bass Pro Shops team. Like Nintento's Mario, the crew man leaped over the hood of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet avoiding injury. However, the #1 team was penalized for the loose tire and the #29 Chevrolet took a penalty for speeding out of pit road.

After many drivers posting strong finishes at the Daytona 500, the Auto Club 500 saw many of those drivers endured a much harsher followup race. While McMurray started on the pole for the event, he lost ground after a pit stop penalty for the before-mentioned incident and was unable to mount a return to the front. McMurray finished 17th on the day finishing ahead of his teammate Montoya who had his engine parish after 140 laps.

Coming off a 2nd place run, the recent string of misfortune seemed to have lifted off Dale Earnhardt Jr and the #88 Amp/National Guard Chevrolet. The Auto Club Speedway, historically one of Earnhardt Jr's worst tracks, was a bump on the road of the #88 Hendrick Motorsport team's resurgence. Caught speeding on pit road early, Earnhardt Jr began a recovery before a later pit stop resulted in a broken axle half-shaft. While the Hendrick Motorsports crew succeeded in placing Dale Earnhardt Jr back in the event, the #88 Amp Juice Chevrolet come home 12 laps back in 32nd place. While a less than stellar run overall, this is sadly Earnhardt Jr's best finish in the Sprint Cup season's 1st Auto Club Speedway race since driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

While Earnhardt, McMurray and Montoya had good finishes at Daytona, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, and Marcus Ambrose are skilled drivers starting off the year with lackluster results through the first 2 races. Ryan Newman's car lost an engine to finish 36th while Kahne fared better by at least running after a down day started by a slide through the in front grass. He placed 34th on the final race result. Ambrose's Toyota was sandwiched between the two suffering from overheating issues.

Into the final laps, racing fortune again shined on Jimmie Johnson as a caution came out almost instantly after he took the #48 Lowes Chevrolet down pit lane. By doing so, Johnson was able to leapfrog the field as they required the attention of pit road service and would start the race in the lead. Despite a heated challenge from Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson held off the fight leading the final 24 laps to win his 48th Sprint Cup career victory and his first in 2010.
By winning the Auto Club 500, Johnson wins a race at the speedway for the 4th straight year and his 5th all-time.



Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images


Richard Childress Racing (RCR) cars driven by Harvick and Jeff Burton came home in strong 2nd and 3rd place finishes for the organization. After two races, premature analysis of the NASCAR Sprint Cup points has Kevin Harvick leading fellow RCR driver Clint Bowyer. Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate of Mark Martin and the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Joey Logano rounded out the top 5 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 500.


2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Auto Club 500
Auto Club Speedway

Place| Car # | Driver | Sponsor/Car Make
1) 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet
2) 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
3) 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
4) 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
5) 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
6) 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
7) 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
8) 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
9) 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet
10) 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
11) 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota 
12) 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
13) 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
14) 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota
15) 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
16) 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Auto Club Dodge
17) 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet
18) 98 Paul Menard Energizer/Menards Ford
19) 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
20) 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
21) 12 Brad Keselowski AAA Insurance Dodge Dodge
22) 36 Mike Bliss Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet
23) 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
24) 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
25) 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
26) 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
27) 71 Bobby Labonte TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet
28) 13 Max Papis GEICO Toyota
29) 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota
30) 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver's Ford
31) 37 Kevin Conway # Extenze Ford
32) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Juice / National Guard Chevrolet
33) 7 Robby Gordon Warner Music Nashville Toyota
34) 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford
35) 47 Marcos Ambrose Armor All Toyota
36) 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet
37) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
38) 26 Boris Said Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford
39) 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota
40) 87 Joe Nemechek FrontRowJoe.com Toyota
41) 66 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota
42) 55 Michael McDowell Prism Motorsports Toyota
43) 09 Aric Almirola Phoenix Racing Chevrolet

Clint Bowyer wins Nationwide Dover 200 race

Piloting the #29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Clint Bowyer won the NASCAR Nationwide series Dover 200 on Saturday afternoon. In the past, the one-mile Dover International Speedway was known to be a true test of green NASCAR Nationwide series drivers with some rising to fame and others struggled. In order to infuse the RCR operation with some positive race efforts, the team decided to put Clint Bowyer in to replace part-time Nationwide native Stephen Leicht slated earlier to run.

The Dover 200 started under threats of rain leading drivers and teams planning to focus on finishing closer to the halfway mark of the 200-lap Dover event(at lap 101 NASCAR would are recorded as official). Perhaps provoked by the upcoming weather system, the early stage of the race went by quickly as not even a single caution slowed the field. Lapping up to 14th place before a series of green flag pit stops would commence, Busch's #18 NOS Energy Toyota dominated Dover from the pole. For the caution-free stint, Kyle Busch set a lightning fast pace succeeding to gain a near 4 second lead over than second place Carl Edwards.

During the first service period, Dover International Speedway's reputation for being one of the most difficult pit roads entrances NASCAR was reinforced by some driver errors. Brad Keselowski first attempt to enter pit road had to be aborted costing him time on the track. By the time he pitted, Keselowski overran pit road speed in the #88 Chevrolet through four timed sectors causing NASCAR to assess a drive-through penalty. Adding to the eventful pit sequence, Penske Racing's #12 Dodge of rookie Justin Allgaier stalled on pit road. It took six laps and a major effort by the Penske Racing team to get Allgaier back into the race.

As the race was slowed by caution after halfway, remaining lead lap cars were finally brought closer to Kyle Busch. Clint Bowyer gained the top spot at lap 118 from the #18 Toyota and would never give up the spot. At lap 190, Brad Keselowski added to his eventful 200 lap race when he made contact with Denny Hamlin through the #88's surge back from the pit stop ordeal.

Clint Bowyer's win became his second Nationwide win at Dover. Facing a career as the ultimate underdog in Nationwide competition in 2009, Mike Bliss secured a hard fought 2nd place finish in the #11 Toyota. Bliss, who had won a Nationwide race at Lowes Motor Speedway earlier this year for James Finch, is proving himself again in NASCAR Nationwide. In third place, despite all the setbacks, Keselowski finished strong. Coupled with the race problems, the JR Motorsports team was without Tony Eury Sr who was involved in a car accident a little less than two weeks ago. Son and Earnhardt Jr's former Cup crew Chief Tony Eury Jr filled in the duties for the #88 Chevrolet. On related news, the senior Eury suffered minor injuries but was mentioned to be "resting comfortably" by nascar.com.

Next race for the NASCAR Nationwide series is next Saturday at Kansas Speedway.