Roush probably will not appeal Martin's penalty

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jack Roush said Friday that he probably would not appeal NASCAR's penalty to his team for an unapproved part found in Mark Martins's car last week at North Carolina Speedway.

The 25-point penalty knocked Martin to 112 points behind series leader Tony Stewart with two races remaining.

"I've got no interest in a NASCAR appeal because it never leads to any kind of satisfaction," Roush said. "It's a NASCAR court -- it's a NASCAR agenda. And it's not carried out in fairness or fair play."

Roush remains bitter over two NASCAR penalties that cost him championships in the 1990 Winston Cup Series with Martin and the 1999 Craftsman Truck Series with Greg Biffle.

"There's a lot of history," Roush said, "and it's all bad."

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However, Roush alluded to the fact that he might appeal the most recent penalty if he and his organization felt it would aid a possible lawsuit against the spring manufacturer and its distributor, who have remained unnamed.

Tuesday, Roush Racing president Geoff Smith, who was unavailable for comment Friday, said, "We have asked our outside counsel to assess our options for recourse against the manufacturer and distributor of the spring."

Roush said legal action would be taken if the 25 points determined the championship. The Roush team voiced its displeasure over the severity of the fine for a standard order spring that was bought from a NASCAR-approved vendor, taken from the box and put on the car only to be found illegal.

At Richmond International Raceway in spring 1990, Martin won the race but his car was found to have an unapproved carburetor spacer in post-race inspection. He kept the win but was penalized 46 points -- the difference between first and the last car on the lead lap. That ultimately cost him the championship; Dale Earnhardt won it by 26 points.

At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in fall 1999, Biffle also won but was penalized 120 points after the race for a manifold that the team claimed had been used numerous times throughout the season and gone through teardown once. Biffle, who won the 2000 Truck Series championship, lost to Jack Sprague by eight points.