Harvick questions NASCAR's appeal process
INDIANAPOLIS - Kevin Harvick blasted NASCAR and its appeal process after his Busch Series team lost an appeal of penalties assessed to the No. 77 team after the June 30 race at Daytona.
Kevin Harvick Inc. was docked 50 owner points, driver Burney Lamar was docked 50 points, and crew chief Gene Nead was fined $15,000 and suspended six races for an unapproved shock absorber. Because of the appeal, Nead continued to work.
The National Stock Car Racing Commission denied KHI's appeal Tuesday, ruling that the penalties were "are consistent with a recent upward adjustment of penalty levels in the NASCAR Busch Series."
But as part of the denial, the commission stated that "a base plate in the shock absorber is specifically prohibited by the rules in the NASCAR Busch Series." Harvick was furious over that statement, since the penalty was for "unapproved shock absorber components; base valves not permitted," as stated in the rule book.
"It's not a plate, it's a valve," Harvick said. "They went way out of their way in their statement to refer to a base plate and they went way out their way to say that there's nothing that matters when an appeal is heard. But it does matter if you're on suspension.
"Just sounds like a lot of excuses and a pretty shaky process to me."
Harvick's team didn't appeal the penalty, only the severity of the penalty.
"It's hard when you have three series, and one of them is the same and one of them have different rules," Harvick said. "Mistakes happen, and we made a mistake. I don't know that they know their own rules enough to understand what their own shock rules are."
Stacy Johnson will crew chief for Lamar this weekend at O'Reilly Raceway Park, and the team will decide who will crew chief the next five races.
