Four Cup Teams Penalized by NASCAR

Crewmen on several NASCAR Sprint Cup teams might have been scratching their heads Wednesday and asking the same question: "Now just who was it who said we could use that radiator?"

That's because they all used an unapproved cooling system, leading to a total of $200,000 in fines and dozens of lost points for four different mid-pack NASCAR teams that found themselves in trouble with inspectors in the post-qualifying inspection line at Texas Motor Speedway Friday.

The stock car racing sanctioning body fined Robert "Bootie" Barker, crew chief of the No. 13 team, and Frank Kerr, crew chief of the No. 47 team, $75,000 each and placed both on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for violating several sections of the rule book, including using an unapproved cooling system, adding unapproved weight and using unapproved radiator mounts.

Car owners Robert Germain (No. 13) and Tad Geschickter (No. 47) each were penalized 50 owner points, while drivers Max Papis (13) and Marcos Ambrose (47) were docked 50 driver points each.

Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 00 Toyota, and Pat Tryson, crew crew of the No. 56 team, both owned by Michael Waltrip Racing, each were fined $25,000 and put on probation until Dec. 31 for violating the same sections of the rule book.

The NASCAR statement announcing the penalties did not elaborate on why Childers and Tryson received lesser penalties, or why Waltrip and his drivers, David Reutimann (00) and Martin Truex Jr (56), were not included in the punishment. The No. 13 and No. 47 teams are affiliated with Waltrip's operation.

In a statement released by Michael Waltrip Racing, Executive Vice President Cal Wells said, "NASCAR indicated we were running a part, a radiator pan, which had not been officially submitted for approval.

"We accept NASCAR's ruling and will not appeal because we cannot debate whether the part was submitted, only whether or not the part needed submission. This gives us a clear line of sight on how parts need to be submitted for approval. We will work diligently with NASCAR in the future on all new parts to ensure this does not happen to MWR again."

A loss of 50 points can be especially troublesome for lower-ranking teams, but in these cases, perhaps not so. Ambrose, who was in 26h place with 785 points, drops to 28th, but he and his car owner are still well within the top 35, which guarantees their car a starting spot . Papis, who was 37th, with 430 points, lost more than 10 percent of his total and dropped to 38th place, with 380 points. But his owner, Germain, was 39th in owner points and already well outside the top 35.