24 and 48 fail inspection...

[south jersey girl]

from Nascar.com

SONOMA, Calif. -- Nextel Cup points leader Jeff Gordon and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, both of the Hendrick Motorsports stable, have failed inspection at Infineon Raceway.

The cars of neither Gordon, the defending race champion, nor Johnson will be allowed to practice or qualify Friday.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said both cars "failed the initial inspection ... as a result of body modifications found to be outside NASCAR tolerances. The front fender [of both cars] was modified outside of NASCAR regulations. They did not meet the C2 template inspection."

According to Poston, Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 and No. 25 cars, for Kyle Busch and Casey Mears, passed inspections.

NASCAR.COM will have continuous updates throughout the day.

[south jersey girl]

updated

from Nascar.com

SONOMA, Calif. -- Nextel Cup Series points leader Jeff Gordon and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, both of the Hendrick Motorsports stable, have failed inspection at Infineon Raceway.

The cars of neither Gordon, the defending race champion, nor Johnson will be allowed to practice or qualify Friday.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said both cars "failed the initial inspection ... as a result of body modifications found to be outside NASCAR tolerances. The front fender [of both cars] was modified outside of NASCAR regulations. They did not meet the C2 template inspection."

According to Poston, Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 and No. 25 cars, for Kyle Busch and Casey Mears, passed inspections.

Poston added, "both teams have an opportunity to repair and resubmit their cars" for inspection by the end of the day Friday. "Assuming they pass inspection, they can practice [Saturday] and start at the rear of the field [Sunday]," he said.

"It's important to know this is a Car of Tomorrow penalty," Poston said of the short-term severity of the sanction. "The inspection process and NASCAR's response to Car of Tomorrow violations are going to be more severe.

"We're going to keep this car in check. It's important to know all cars in the field are starting out equal and have the ability to win the race."

Poston said both teams' crew chiefs, Steve Letarte on the No. 24 and Chad Knaus on the No. 48, would be allowed to supervise the repairs, and at this point, NASCAR had no plans to immediately confiscate the cars.

The decision on further penalties would be made next week, Poston said.

[flamehothead]

Maybe this explains how they are doing so well in the COT.

Well if Nascar is staying consistant both LeTart and Knauss will be punished the same as Eury Jr was BUT I'm sure Nascar will NOT stay Cosistant and the penalities for HMS won't be as bad as it is for others. This will be the true test for Nascar and we will see how they handle the penalities.

[James J.]

What gets me is that they're not allowed to qualify.
Do you think NASCAR would have laid down the same penalty if it was a team not in the top 35 of owner's point? 
IOW, would they really have sent another team home for this infraction?
 

[The Voice]

Robin Pemberton said, "No, we're not going to park them for the race."

"Why?"

Pemberton (paraphrasing): That's not what we do--it isn't fair to the drivers or the fans or the sponsors. They won't practice or qualify today, maybe not tomorrow, and they'll start in the back, plus we'll talk further penalties Monday.

[Tyyrus]

It will be interesting if Nascar shows parity in the severeness of these Penalties !  This will show us all just what Nascar means by Stiff Penalties will be levid in the future..Eh ! 

[Tonyfan14]

Not surprising that those 2 got caught cheating....again. NASCAR needs to step up and come down even harder on these 2 than what they did with the 8. But then again I'm not sure what they can do to really hurt the 24 and the 48. Both are all ready pretty much locked in the Chase so a 100 point thing wont do anything to them.

[smyler]

Every car could be called for cheating just about every week.  You can always find something if you look hard enough.

I think this is just NASCAR's way of making the chase for the chase a bit closer.  The 100 points (plus the loss of positions that they will endure) will make things much closer.  Matt Kenseth or Denny Hamlin may actually have a chance capturing 1st position in the points by race 26 if both Jimmie and Jeff have at least one DNF between now and then.  Isn't that what NASCAR wants?  You all say how NASCAR manufactures excitement by throwing meaningless cautions.  Maybe that is what they are doing here.

[The Voice]

Every car could be called for cheating just about every week.  You can always find something if you look hard enough.

I think this is just NASCAR's way of making the chase for the chase a bit closer.  The 100 points (plus the loss of positions that they will endure) will make things much closer.  Matt Kenseth or Denny Hamlin may actually have a chance capturing 1st position in the points by race 26 if both Jimmie and Jeff have at least one DNF between now and then.  Isn't that what NASCAR wants?  You all say how NASCAR manufactures excitement by throwing meaningless cautions.  Maybe that is what they are doing here.

An HMS official admitted on SPEED that they had messed with the fender shape, but they thought it would still fit the template and it didn't.

[south jersey girl]

Besides the point penalties that will most likely be levied on Monday/Tuesday, they will also probably lose quite a few points this week.  Starting 41st and 42nd is a big points penalty, as hard as it is to pass on a road course.  Most likely, if you don't start near the front, you aren't going to finish near the front...

[Tonyfan14]

Besides the point penalties that will most likely be levied on Monday/Tuesday, they will also probably lose quite a few points this week.  Starting 41st and 42nd is a big points penalty, as hard as it is to pass on a road course.  Most likely, if you don't start near the front, you aren't going to finish near the front...

Jeff will be fine. JJ on the other hand will probably have some problems. He isen'tvery good at raod courses as it is but to have him start that far back. It could get ugly for the 48 team. The 24 team will be just fine though.

[Tonyfan14]

Every car could be called for cheating just about every week.  You can always find something if you look hard enough.

Yes but you did not have to look hard at all to notice that the 24 and 48 were off. And they have a record of doing this. Which is why these penalities should be harsher than with the 8 team got. Espically for Chad.

[James J.]

An HMS official admitted on SPEED that they had messed with the fender shape, but they thought it would still fit the template and it didn't.

Well, from what I've read, heard and saw on SPEED, it DID fit the template points.  There was just a rise in the area between the points.  I'm sorry, but if NASCAR doesn't want humps or dips between the points, then it sounds like they need to have more points closer together.   

[James J.]

Jeff will be fine. JJ on the other hand will probably have some problems. He isen'tvery good at raod courses as it is but to have him start that far back. It could get ugly for the 48 team. The 24 team will be just fine though.

I pretty much agree.  The 48 team seems to do a great job of getting Johnson back to the front with work in the pits though (such as pitting out of sequence, etc.).

[Matt]

Starting out back isn't the kiss of death on a road course. I look for the 24 and the 48 to pit very early in the event than bank on caution flags to get them to the front. Remember on the road courses, as opposed to every other track, the trick is to have already pitted when when the caution flies so you stay out while the rest of the field pits and ends up behind you. You don't lose a lap pitting under green on a road course.