150-point penalties levied against No. 1 driver, owner

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR on Tuesday issued penalties, fines and suspensions to the car No. 1 team that competes in the Sprint Cup Series, as a result of rules infractions found last week at Daytona International Speedway (read more).

The car driven by Martin Truex Jr., was found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-3.8A (roof of the car does not conform to the specifications) of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rule book.

Truex Jr.

As a result, Truex Jr. and car owner Teresa Earnhardt have been penalized 150 championship driver and 150 championship owner points, respectively.
• Updated: Driver Standings | Owner Standings

Both the crew chief, Kevin Manion, and the car chief, Gary Putnam, have been suspended from the next six Sprint Cup Series events, suspended from NASCAR until Aug. 27 and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Additionally, Manion has been fined $100,000.

The infractions were discovered July 3 during opening day inspection.

"We are still trying to understand how the car fit our templates multiple times at the shop, but we respect NASCAR's determination that one of our cars did not exactly conform to their template at the track," John Story, DEI vice president of motorsports operations said in a statement.

"We have not decided if we will pursue our options to appeal. Under NASCAR's rules, we have 10 days to notify the sanctioning body of any appeal."

The loss of 150 points drops Truex from 14th to 18th in the Cup standings, 238 points behind 12th-place Tony Stewart, who holds the last Chase-eligible position with eight races left before the field for the Chase is set Sept. 6 at Richmond.

"It's NASCAR's game," Truex said. "They set the rules and it's up to us to abide by them.

"NASCAR has said from Day one that they were going to be strict about this car not fitting the templates. We'll just deal with the penalties and move forward. I hate that we're going to lose Kevin and Gary. Obviously, they are important to the team and it'll be weird not having them at the track.

"We brought a new car to Daytona and it fit all of the templates at our shop," he said. "It doesn't appear to have been anything intentional on our part but it was still our responsibility. We'll deal with it and move on.

"We've dug ourselves a hole but we're not giving up. This team seems to respond the best when its back is against the wall."

The penalties imposed by NASCAR mirrored those levied against the No. 66 and No. 70 Haas CNC Chevrolets for improperly positioned rear wing mounting points. Those violations were found May 24, a day after qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

As was the case with the Haas cars, NASCAR impounded the No. 1 Chevy and took it to the research and development center in Concord for further evaluation.

Haas CNC appealed the severity of its penalties to the National Stock Car Racing Commission, but the commission upheld NASCAR's punishments.

DEI currently is attempting to sign Truex to a contract extension with the organization.

Sporting News Wire Service contributed to this report.

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