Bob Pockrass Fox Sports reports that NASCAR confiscated the hood louvers of four Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series entries. The pieces were taken for further investigation, leaving William Byron’s Team #24, Kyle Larson’s Team #5, Alex Bowman’s Team #48, and Team #9 which Currently running Josh Berry in place of the injured Chase. Elliott will race with a new set of louvers for the weekend’s race.
Hood louvers are part of the current NASCAR rules specification, so teams must arrive at the track with parts identical to those used by other teams using the same manufacturer’s body style. The confiscation of Hendrick’s coins suggests that theirs were modified in some way, even if these modifications were not necessarily made to create an advantage. Even assuming a NASCAR team is more likely to modify parts to go faster, Pockrass notes that assembly issues with these specific parts could also be in play.
If NASCAR decides to penalize the Hendrick program, the penalties could be severe. Last year, Brad Keselowski and his RFK Racing team received 100 regular season points, 10 points for any potential playoff appearance and a $100,000 cash fine for a problem with a repaired body panel. NASCAR also has the ability to show leniency to teams after confiscating parts; just a month before this penalty, the series chose do not penalize RFK Racing at all for a front wheel modification on the Daytona 500.
