Bowyer's appeal denied by panel

Bowyer's appeal denied by panel


A three-member appeals panel has denied Richard Childress Racing's appeal of penalties issued for an illegal car that Clint Bowyer drove to victory in the Sept. 19 Sprint Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The appeal was held Wednesday afternoon at the NASCAR Research and Development Center , and the NASCAR-appointed panel decided to keep Bowyer's penalty at 150 points with six-week suspensions to crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney as well as a $150,000 fine to Wilson .
RCR owner Richard Childress can make one last-ditch appeal to NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook, a former General Motors executive. Childress vowed last week to take the appeal to Middlebrook if needed.
It was not immediately clear if Wilson and Haney would continue in their roles this weekend at Kansas Speedway pending a decision by Middlebrook. If Wilson stays home, RCR competition director Scott Miller will be Bowyer's crew chief.
Childress said last week that the car was knocked out of compliance by contact from another racecar or from a wrecker that pushed the car after it ran out of fuel following Bowyer's victory. He said that NASCAR ruled that the way the body sat on the frame was too high in the left rear by 130-thousandths of an inch—60-thousandths of an inch beyond the 70-thousandths of an inch tolerance teams are permitted in that area.
“We know without a shadow of a doubt that that car left (our shop for the race) within the tolerances, well within the tolerances,” Childress said last week.
The penalty knocked Bowyer from second to 12th in the standings, 185 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. A 25th-place finish at Dover dropped him to 235 points behind Hamlin.

NASCAR officials have refused to talk about specifics of the infraction because of the appeal but have said they do not believe contact from the wrecker had anything to do with the car being out of compliance. RCR was warned that the No. 33 car Bowyer raced at Richmond was close to being illegal.
The appeals committee has not overturned a penalty in any of the seven appeals it has heard concerning national series teams this year.
No cases this year have been taken to Middlebrook, who is in the first year in his role as chief appellate officer. Middlebrook replaced Charles Strang, whose title was "commissioner."
Middlebrook spent 49 years at GM before retiring in 2008 from his position as vice president for global sales. Middlebrook was involved in General Motors' NASCAR programs and drove the pace car during the pace laps for the 2008 Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"John is well respected in the sport and is known for his careful thought and judgment," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said at the start of the season.