NASCAR drops hammer on Stewart-Haas Racing for counterfeit parts
NASCAR handed Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 14 team a $250,000 fine, a six-race crew chief suspension and heavy points penalties for counterfeiting parts.
Chase Briscoe and the team will lose 120 driver and owner points and 25 driver and owner playoff points.
The L3-level penalties are for counterfeit underwing assembly parts and a counterfeit engine panel duct on their Coca-Cola 600 car. Officials found the parts on the during an R&D Center teardown.
Greg Zipadelli, SHR’s competition director, blamed ‘a quality control lapse’ and said they won’t appeal the penalties.
Upon issuing the penalty, NASCAR cited rulebook section 14.1.F:
“Counterfeiting Next Gen Single Source Vendor-supplied parts and/or assemblies will not be permitted.”
They also cited sections 14.6.A and 14.6.3.B., which detail the underwing assembly parts and what type of engine panel duct teams must use.
Crew chief Johnny Klausmeier will miss the next six races and won’t be back until the July 23 race at Pocono.
Briscoe will sink from 17th in the regular-season standings, four points out of a playoff spot, to 31st, 124 points out, as he doesn’t have a win yet this season.
Even if he wins a race and gets five playoff points, he’ll still have -20 playoff points and be in a deep hole.
For context:
- 120 points is the equivalent of two full races worth of points
- 25 playoff points is the equivalent of winning five races
Only 18 times has a driver earned more than 25 playoff points in one season. There has never been a season where more than four drivers earned 25 or more playoff points.
NASCAR took Briscoe’s car and six others to tear down and dyno at the R&D Center after the 600:
If they want to have every car exactly the same they should just build them all in one place that the teams put a wrap on them and let the drivers drive them just like they used to do IROC.
But I know they won’t do that because if they do their favorites and team paying most won’t win, because some of them shouldn’t even be able allowed to drive the cars at Disney World.