When it comes to new car, crew chiefs toeing the line (cont'd)

"I think the crew chiefs know the continuity of keeping a team together and keeping a crew chief together for the entire year, with no vacations. They know the value of not having distractions and things like that going on," Pemberton said. "I think we've got enough time under our belt that everybody understands how to build cars. It isn't just us and our penalties, even though they are high. It's everybody working together, the teams and us. We're doing a great job of inspecting, they're doing a great job of staying in bounds. You'll go through a time like that, and hopefully not, but more than likely things will change. You'll never know when you'll go through a rash like that again."

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The body things that guys worked on in the past were to get aero balance shifts and to get different numbers on side forces and things of that nature. This car has those features built into it, so you don't have to go outside the rules to achieve some of those numbers.

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ROBIN PEMBERTON

And yet, a common understanding between teams and NASCAR may not be the only reason crew chiefs seem to be toeing the line. Given the current economic situation and how difficult it is to find sponsors, some teams are being a little more careful to ensure they don't do anything to embarrass or scare away the companies adorning the sides of their cars. It's not the $100,000 fine they're worried about, but the stigma of a 100-point loss.

"I think it has to do with the economy more than it has to do with the car," said Todd Berrier, crew chief on Casey Mears' No. 07 Chevy. "Take Richard Childress Racing, you think we could stand $100,000 and 100 points, and a sponsorship to walk and it cost you $20 million? It's the economics of the business at this point more than anything else. We're sitting there with companies that have too many people and can barely make ends meet, and Cup sponsorships and things like that ... At the end of the day, you can't take chances that in turn would cost your company millions of dollars and cost people their jobs. That's in essence what it's about at this point in time."

Still, if Berrier or any other crew chief wanted to try and push the envelope a little more, they probably could. The difference is that these days, they don't want to. Nobody wants to give their sponsor a black eye, nobody wants to risk losing the bonus money that would come with a Chase berth, nobody wants to risk losing a job in an industry that's already been devastated by layoffs.

"I have a firm grasp knowing that I'm not going to do anything to cost the company any money or any points, anything like that. That's the main thing," Berrier said.

"When you're looking at all these companies, there's a lot less people in this garage than there were a year ago, and a lot more people outside the door trying to get in. There are probably 10 people wanting jobs to every one that has one in this thing now. At the end of the day, everyone has to protect, play a little bit on defense at that point. It probably doesn't make for the best of scenarios when it comes to being more competitive and things like that, but the most important things are that our families eat and we keep our sponsors and we don't do anything that will affect our companies in a detrimental way."

And then there's the Chase, the year-end playoff system that looms over everything, especially in a season where so many teams are in contention and the point margins around the 12th-place cutoff are so tight. Teams vying for one of those coveted berths don't want to incur a 100-point penalty that could doom their chances.

"I think with the penalties and all, everybody is working inside that box and staying within the rules and not trying to push any limits, because making this Chase is so important," said Steve Addington, crew chief on Kyle Busch's No. 18 Toyota. "You get hit with a penalty right now, your Chase hopes are going to go out the window. Everybody is being smart and saying, we can't be on the other side of that line and push NASCAR. If we lost 100 points, we could go from fifth to out of the Chase. It's a lot tighter battle right now, and if you get knocked out, there are a lot of good cars and drivers here right outside the top 12. So everybody is being a little bit smarter and watching what goes on with the race cars." (Continued)