Appeal over, but dispute over Jimmie Johnson's "C" posts still rages

March 23, 2012

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

FONTANA, Calif. -- In the aftermath of Hendrick Motorsports' successful appeal of penalties imposed on the No. 48 team for a Daytona rules infraction, Jimmie Johnson made a bold assertion Friday at Auto Club Speedway.

"Through the appeal process, we proved that those 'C' posts were legal," Johnson said of the parts NASCAR confiscated on opening-day inspection Feb. 17 at Daytona.

NASCAR president Mike Helton would take issue with that statement. In Helton's view, when NASCAR's chief appellate officer, John Middlebrook, upheld a $100,000 fine to Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, that vindicated the inspection problem that uncovered the alleged violation.

"We believe in our inspectors," Helton told reporters Friday at Auto Club Speedway. "We think that the decision that was made this week supports the inspection process, because the elements of the penalty that were upheld indicate that the inspection process, or the inspectors, did their job correctly."

In upholding the fine and leaving Knaus and car chief Ron Malec on probation, while rescinding six-race suspensions to Knaus and Malec and 25-point penalties against Johnson and car owner Jeff Gordon, Middlebrook made no comment about the nature of the violation itself. He simply altered the punishment.

So were the "C" posts legal or not? Asked whether they would be confiscated again if the 48 car featured the same "C" posts at Talladega, Helton said, "I would hope so."

Legal or not, Johnson, Knaus and team owner Rick Hendrick expressed confusion over the rescission of some penalties and the upholding of others.

"I'm not totally happy with the decision," said Johnson, who climbed from 17th to 11th in the Cup standings after his 25 points were restored. "I'm pleased that the big issues had come down, but I share confusion as well.

"I think our message -- I know our message all along through Hendrick Motorsports and myself -- we didn't feel that a penalty was warranted in the first place. We're just as curious."

NEW BRISTOL OR OLD BRISTOL?

Should Bristol Motor Speedway be returned to its pre-2007 configuration to satisfy race fans' apparent hunger for beating and banging?

That's a question track owner Bruton Smith is expected to answer for the Cup series returns to the .533-mile track in August. After Bristol drew what Smith considered was a disappointing crowd for last Sunday's Food City 500 -- roughly half-capacity at the 160,000-seat facility -- the chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc. said he was considering his options, up to and including a return to an earlier version of the track.

The resurfacing and reconfiguration of the concrete speedway in 2007, including the addition of graduated banking, opened the outside lane and made side-by-side racing possible. Before the change, drivers routinely ran the bottom groove and used their bumpers to gain positions.

Brad Keselowski, last Sunday's winner, would rather not see Smith overreact to what he views primarily as an economic and aerodynamic issue.

"Yes, I do think it would be a knee-jerk reaction," Keselowski said when that question was posed. "I don't think you can make racing better every time by changing racetracks. I think they can do things to make them better. It's going to come down to the teams, the drivers, the car setups and car design.

"I just think that what we've seen over the last 10 to 15 years . . . aerodynamics has taken over the sport and changed the racing. You're not going to change that by making the tracks different."

Kevin Harvick, on the other hand, would prefer a revival of the old Bristol.

"I enjoyed the old Bristol," he said. "I like that rough-and-tumble type of racing. I know a lot of car owners and some of the drivers don't like that style of racing.

"That's what made Bristol what it was. People don't want to watch cars ride around with no donuts on the doors and no caved-in fenders at Bristol. They don't want to see a 200-lap (or a ) 150-lap green-flag run. That's not what they came to Bristol for, and that's why they quit coming."

If Smith decides to change Bristol, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopes he'll seek input from drivers first.

"Whatever he decides to do, talk to the drivers, man," Earnhardt said. "We're the ones out there running on it and can provide some insight. We don't have all the answers, but I'm sure we can give him some things to improve on the situation, if that's what they want to do."