Penalties may be same, but effects differ from others

NASCAR's 100-point penalties theoretically should affect all teams the same, but that hasn't been the case in 2007.

The penalties assessed Tuesday stemming from failing Friday's inspection at Infineon Raceway will certainly sting Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, especially when it comes to losing their crew chiefs for six races, but shouldn't severely impact their chances of making the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Penalties announced

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were hit with severe penalties on Tuesday following their infractions at Sonoma.

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Gordon's 100-point penalty doesn't even knock him out of first place, since he had a cushion of 271 points over Denny Hamlin following Sunday's race after rallying to finish seventh in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Johnson, who wound up 17th after also starting from the back of the grid, drops from third to fifth in the standings. But he loses no ground to Gordon -- and remains a comfortable 353 points ahead of Ryan Newman for what would be the 12th and final spot in the Chase.

And when the Chase begins 11 races from now, Gordon and Johnson will still receive a minimum of 40 bonus points when the standings are reset, thanks to their four victories apiece.

However, similar penalties handed out this season have definitely made it harder for some teams to recover. Dale Earnhardt Jr., stung with a 100-point penalty after his car was found to have illegal wing braces at Darlington, would be 10th instead of 12th -- and a more comfortable 196 points ahead of Newman.

Still, Junior's situation is better than Kurt Busch's. After getting parked at Dover for his on-track tantrum, then docked 100 points, Busch is 16th and 171 points out of a Chase berth. Without that penalty, Busch would be 13th with 10 races remaining.

But the team that may suffered the most might be Michael Waltrip's startup operation. The 100 points he lost after his car was caught with a foreign substance in its manifold during qualifying for the Daytona 500 put him in a position from which he never recovered.

Qualifying woes, coupled with a lack of a guaranteed starting position, caused Waltrip to be stuck in negative numbers for the first 12 races of the season. After making races at Dover and Michigan, he's 51st in the driver standings, last of all teams that have attempted to qualify for every race this season.

Smaller point penalties have also affected teams differently. While Matt Kenseth has shaken off the 50-point penalty assessed at Daytona, Kasey Kahne has just recently worked his way out of danger of falling out of the top 35 in owner points.

The 25 points assessed against Elliott Sadler at Daytona would have put him tied for 19th with Bobby Labonte instead of 22nd. And Scott Riggs would still be 36th in owner points, but an additional 25 points would have left him within 58 points of catching Johnny Sauter for a guaranteed starting spot.