SONOMA, Calif. -- All Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson can do now is wait.

They sat out practice and qualifying on Friday, started at the rear of the field on Sunday, and tried to salvage something positive out of a weekend marred by technical violations found on their respective racecars. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates left Infineon Raceway hoping for some leniency from NASCAR -- but not really expecting it.

"To me, what happened on Friday was huge. It had a trickle effect throughout this entire garage area," Gordon said after rallying to finish seventh. (watch video) "Everybody's eyes are wide open, going, 'Wow, I can't believe they're coming down that hard on this type of infraction.' I think all of us are blown away. We don't know what's coming next. We're at the mercy of NASCAR. I hope they take it light on us, but who knows."

In initial inspection Friday, NASCAR officials discovered a 10-inch piece of front fender on each of the Hendrick cars had been modified illegally. They weren't allowed on the racetrack until Saturday, after the vehicles had passed a second round of inspection. Given the harsh stance NASCAR has taken on Car of Tomorrow violators -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost 100 points, and his crew chief was fined $100,000 and suspended six weeks for mounting rear-wing brackets illegally at Darlington -- tougher punishment almost certainly looms ahead.

"I have no idea as far as what to expect," Johnson said Sunday after coming home 17th. "We'll just see what happens and what next week holds. We'll just have to see what happens. It's really out of our hands. It's been out of our hands the last couple of days, and we'll just have to wait and see what NASCAR does on Tuesday."

That's the day NASCAR traditionally announces penalties for technical infractions. Gordon and Johnson face point penalties, crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus possible suspensions and fines. But Gordon hopes the hardship he and Johnson have already endured -- not being able to post a qualifying time, and starting at the back on a road course where no one had rallied from further than 13th to win until Juan Montoya did it Sunday -- is punishment enough. (Continued)