DEI hit with big fines, Junior docked 100 points
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For a change, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and not driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making big news.
Earnhardt Jr.
Eury on Tuesday was fined $100,000 and suspended for six weeks after NASCAR discovered the rear wing mounts on the famous No. 8 were illegal before Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Darlington Raceway.
Also, Earnhardt's team was docked 100 championship points to drop him from 12th to 14th in the standings and Dale Earnhardt Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt was docked 100 owners' points.
Dale Earnhardt Inc. will appeal, team president Max Siegel told The Associated Press.
"We are not disputing the ruling," Siegel said. "But we are appealing the severity of the penalty because the penalty itself is not spelled out in the rule book."
Eury was allowed to replace the mounts before the race and Earnhardt was allowed to keep his 21st starting position. He finished eighth.
The penalty was another sign that NASCAR will not tolerate cheating. Crew chiefs Kenny Francis [Kasey Kahne] and Robbie Reiser [Matt Kenseth] were fined $50,000 and suspended for four races each after failing post-qualifying inspection at Daytona.
Their drivers were docked 50 points each.
Michael Waltrip was docked 100 points and his crew chief and competition director suspended indefinitely after an illegal substance was discovered in Waltrip's car prior to qualifying for the Daytona 500.
The penalties against Earnhardt's team were the first major infractions passed out involving the Car of Tomorrow.
NASCAR confiscated the wing mounts on Saturday before the race was postponed until Sunday due to rain.
Eury called it an "interpretation."
"It was a bad deal," he said after the race. "It was a part that got put on there that shouldn't have. We've done a lot of offseason testing for NASCAR. There's been three different styles of brackets on there and it just happened to be one of those old-style brackets."
Eury said the brackets were the same ones that weren't discovered during pre- or post-qualifying inspections.
"It fit all of their templates," he said. "It just had a problem when you put [the angle] to where you should have."
Eury said he tried to explain how to fix the problem to series director John Darby and that it was not done on purpose.
Earnhardt, who on Thursday became the most famous free agent in NASCAR history when he announced this would be his last season for DEI, offered to pay the fine.
"Whatever he needs me to do," Earnhardt said. "I don't really know what he was trying to accomplish there. We still ran all right with the stock positions."
