RAB Racing loses final appeal of 100-point penalty
FORT WORTH, Texas – RAB Racing has lost its appeal to National Stock Car Racing Commissioner Charles Strang over a $15,000, 100-point penalty for having an illegal roll cage in the Nationwide Series car it brought to race in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway. The roll cage was bent near the driver’s door.
Team owner Robby Benton’s biggest issue with the penalty was that points were taken away for a car that was never raced. NASCAR officials asked the team to bring out a backup car but did not impound the car.
Benton’s appeal to Strang occurred March 30 and Benton said he was informed of the decision April 3.
“The purpose of the penalty is to deter repeated action,” Benton said. “Fine me as an owner, fine the crew chief. Points hurt a lot of people that had nothing to do with it. The points hurt the driver, the points hurt the team, the points hurt the sponsor.
“If we had competed with the car this way and it was found postrace, I would understand it. I wouldn’t have an argument. We present these cars and pay an inspection fee for them to be inspected, and if there’s something they don’t like. OK, I understand fining a team to make the point you don’t want to see that again.”
With the 100-point penalty, the team is 37th in owners points and driver John Wes Townley will now have to qualify on speed for the upcoming April 11 race at Nashville Superspeedway. Without the 100-point penalty, the team would have been 28th in points.
Benton was frustrated that NASCAR would levy such a debilitating blow to a team in its first year trying to run full time. The car had been inspected and raced in five events in previous seasons by an established team, Benton said.
“All the points we’ve garnered to this point in the year have been earned with legal race cars that went through tech OK,” Benton said. “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and it hurts.”
NASCAR typically doesn’t give much credence to the “car passed inspection before” reasoning because the team is responsible for the car for each event and there is no way of knowing what changes, if any, were made between events.
Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said this was a case of a safety violation that requires a stiff penalty, including points. NASCAR won both rounds of appeals, one to the National Stock Car Racing Commission and the other to Strang.
“With other penalties in the past in both garages, that parallels some of the other things that happened with other penalties,” Balash said. “It’s a big safety factor to have a bar that is kind of bent down in that area. It probably would have been bigger if it was raced.”
