NASCAR hits Roush truck team with penalties

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR officials Tuesday announced monetary and point penalties to Roush Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series following an engine infraction discovered in post-race inspection following last Saturday night's Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway.

	Carl Edwards Credit: Autostock

Crew chief Doug Richert was fined $25,000 -- 32 percent of the truck's $77,500 winning purse share -- when Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford F-150 was found to have unapproved cylinder heads.

Edwards, who scored his first career Craftsman Truck Series victory at the 1.5-mile speedway, was docked 100 points in the drivers' championship and Jack Roush was docked 100 points in the owners' championship.

The heads, which were on a back-up engine the team installed after the primary engine broke, resulted in a violation of Section 12-4-Q of the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rulebook, "parts and/or equipment used that do not conform to NASCAR rules;" and Section 12-4-A, "actions detrimental to stock car racing."

"We had a quality control breakdown when our Mooresville, N.C., engine department decided to use a non-conforming part to build a back-up engine with the hope and expectation that it would not be needed at the race," Roush officials said in a statement. "We were wrong and we accept the penalty."

Edwards was 10th in the championship, 217 points behind leader Travis Kvapil, before the penalty. He remains in 10th after the deduction, but is 317 points behind with 14 races remaining.

Craftsman  Tools of the Trade

Edwards' victory came in similar circumstances to teammate Jon Wood's the week before at Kansas Speedway, when Wood also broke an engine and had to start the race from the rear of the 36-truck field.

The only difference was Wood's truck, which finished fourth behind Edwards at Kentucky, passed inspection both weeks.

The day before the penalties were announced, Roush revealed that the trucks of Wood, 21, and Edwards, 23, would complete the entire 25-race Truck Series schedule.

	Team owner, Jack Roush Credit: Autostock

Their status in the series had been in question due to Edwards' truck running the entire season without sponsorship. Wood started the season with the backing of the U.S. Navy, which left Roush to go to the Busch Series and FitzBradshaw Racing.

Just prior to winning at Kansas, Roush announced a two-race sponsorship from U.S. Presidential candidate Bob Graham. Since winning at Kansas, Graham has extended the sponsorship to cover the rest of the season on Wood's No. 50 Ford.

While the point penalties were harsher than those that have been used in the Winston Cup and Busch Series for any infraction in the last two years -- where a maximum of 25 points has been deducted -- the penalty was consistent for the Truck Series.

After last season's opening race at Daytona, driver Terry Cook's crew chief Bob Keselowski was fined $10,000 -- 50 percent of the truck's purse -- for a cylinder head that had unapproved exhaust port locations.

Cook and truck owner Kay Keselowski were docked 100 points each, which at the end of the season cost Cook -- who finished eighth behind champion Mike Bliss -- four positions in the driver standings and Keselowski the same in the owner standings.

In 1999, Roush ran into a similar situation when championship leader Greg Biffle's truck was found with an unapproved intake manifold after Biffle won the September event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Biffle was hit with a 120-point penalty -- the difference between first and last place points -- and ended up losing the championship to Jack Sprague by eight points. Biffle won the 2000 Truck Series title before winning the Busch Series Rookie of the Year title and Busch championship in subsequent years.