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Bob PockrassNASCAR
Kevin Harvick is no longer in the playoffs of the NASCAR Cup series as it was discovered that his winning Sunday car at Texas Motor Speedway had been illegally modified from the rear spoiler.
NASCAR has imposed penalties on the Stewart-Haas Racing Racing Team, including banning Harvick from using the automatic win to automatically be one of four drivers to compete in the championship on Nov. 18 at Homestead- Miami Speedway.
Harvick was docked at 40 points, crew chiefs Rodney Childers and Robert Smith were suspended for the last two races of the season and Childers was fined $ 75,000.
Kevin Harvick won another NASCAR Cup championship title, beating Ryan Blaney on extra pole Sunday to clinch victory in Texas.
At 42, the driver of the No. 4 Ford already has three more wins than any other season of his career.
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"We do not want to impose penalties, we will do it when necessary to ensure that every race and every championship is played on an equal footing," said Scott Miller, senior vice president of the NASCAR competition. .
The penalty leaves Harvick hanging in last place in the playoffs at points, since he occupies three points ahead of Kurt Busch and 17 points ahead of Chase Elliott for Sunday's elimination race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.
SHR will not appeal the sentence. Former Cup chief Tony Gibson will replace Childers.
"We work relentlessly on every inch of our race cars to gain speed and, unfortunately, NASCAR has decided to venture into an area that its rules did not allow," said SHR Vice President Greg Zipadelli, in a statement. "We will not appeal the penalty, instead we will immediately focus on the event this weekend in Phoenix and control our fate on the race track."
Joey Logano is the only driver to finish in the last four places while Kyle Busch (28 points ahead of his brother Kurt), and Martin Truex Jr. (25 points ahead) have cushions that should allow them to progress if they run. reasonably well in Phoenix.
Phoenix is one of the best pieces of Harvick. He won nine cup wins, including the last race in March. He has won seven times in his last 12 starts – and finished in front of the top 5, just twice – on the flat track of a mile and a half.
While the track has remained the same, Sunday's race will be the first with a departed start / finish line, now positioned in the dogleg portion of the old Turn 2.
NASCAR Wednesday also penalized Ryan Blaney, who finished second in Texas, and Erik Jones, who finished fourth. They were moored to 20 points, their car leaders were suspended for two races and their crew leaders were fined $ 50,000.
Blaney had a violation of the front door crush panel as the filler panels did not remain permanently attached, and Jones had a violation of the parcel tray. Both drivers were eliminated in previous rounds of the playoffs.
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