Haas Drivers fined 150 points

[Chris]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR on Wednesday issued penalties, fines and suspensions to the No. 66 and No. 70 teams in the Sprint Cup Series.

The No. 66 car, driven by Scott Riggs, and the No. 70 car, driven by Johnny Sauter, were found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 20-3.1.3A (wing mounting locations were not as specified by the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book).

The infractions were discovered May 24 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

As a result:

• Riggs has been penalized 150 driver points;

• No. 66 car owner Joe Custer has been penalized 150 owner points;

• Sauter has been penalized 150 driver points;

• No. 70 car owner Margaret Haas has been penalized 150 owner points;

• Both the crew chiefs and the car chiefs for the two cars -- Bootie Barker and Derick Jennings for the No. 66 and Dave Skog and Thomas Harris for the No. 70 -- have been suspended from the next six Sprint Cup Series events, suspended from NASCAR until July 9 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31;

• Additionally, Barker and Skog each have been fined $100,000.

The penalty also includes NASCAR's confiscation of team 66 Serial Number HMS 12 06 415 race car and team 70 Serial Number HMS 04 08 507 race car.

[Busch Babe 899]

They suggested on TWIN that NASCAR might up the ante with this penalty...they sure did.

[smyler]

I wonder how close to a death blow this will be to these teams.  They were already struggling and this will be the end of any hope they had to a good finish for the year and it's only 1/3 over. 

[Fathead]

I wonder what effect this will have on the Stewart buying this team rumors.

[FSBryan]

I don't know how much of an effect this will have on Stewart...since he's got the past champ's provisional the Top-35 isn't quite as big a deal for him, at least from the driver's seat. Definitely a major hit for this season though...the No. 70 isn't getting back into the Top-35 this season. The fine is also what I'm wondering about for them...these teams have practically no sponsors.

[Fathead]

Well, what I mean is, with the sponsor situation, a team that is clearly going to be out of the top 35 to start next season,and now these big fines,  the team is not nearly as valuable as it was even a month ago.  Does Stewart get a bigger piece of the pie now that the value has gone down?  Those kind of questions.

[Chris]

Riggs was 26th in points before the penalties...
Considering where he is now,.. he should move right back up the lineup... I don't see that car finishing outside the top 35 when the year ends.

[smyler]

I have to agree with you, Chris.  He should stay in top 25.  Riggs is a very good driver.  He did well for Ray (so tell me again, why was he let go???  hmmm) and continues to do well.  No offense to Elliott Sadler but Riggs is just as good and I think would be higher in the standings than Elliott if he had been allowed to stay.

[FSBryan]

He was let go from the #10 after failing to qualify 6 times and scoring only 2 Top-10s in his last 37 starts for Evernham...though Carpentier surely wasn't an improvement. Riggs has finished in the Top-25 in points only once in his career. The No. 66 will likely stay in the Top-35, but Riggs is hardly the driver that's going to step that program up much.

[smyler]

Aparently my memory failed me.  I thought he was better than that.  He seemed to do well, in my mind even if he didn't do as well in reality, LOL.

[FSBryan]

To his credit he has done better in the No. 66 in terms of consistency than Jeff Green did last year...though Green had Top-10s at Bristol and Richmond by this point in the season in 2007.

[Fathead]

I meant that at least one of the 2 cars would be for sure out of the top 35, and the 66 could easily fall out with a wreck this week.   

[Chris]

I meant that at least one of the 2 cars would be for sure out of the top 35, and the 66 could easily fall out with a wreck this week.  

Oh well.. thats a no brainer...
The #70 hasn't been in the top 35 all season... and add to that the 150 point deduction this week... that'll seal their fate for 2008.
Of course if Tony buys in all they gotta have is TWO cars in the top 35...
Then they can do what Penske did;.. have Tony can drive the car that is OUTSIDE the top 35 in points the first 5 races.

[Fathead]

66 fell out.

[FSBryan]

Riggs has a career average start of 20.2 at Pocono, and has qualified fairly well in the No. 66 this season. Normally the entries list is thin at Pocono, so Riggs should be in fairly good shape for making the field this weekend.