NASCAR's warnings are issued for a reason

One year ago next week, NASCAR notified the teams of Hendrick Motorsports championship contenders Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin that their cars had been found to be too close to tolerances during inspection at the series research and development center. The next weekend at Kansas, they each posted top-10 finishes and went on about the season. One week ago, NASCAR notified the team of Richard Childress Racing title contender Clint Bowyer that his car had been found to be too close to tolerances during inspection at the R&D center.

Wednesday, NASCAR lowered the boom on the No. 33 team, imposing a 150-point penalty on the New Hampshire winner that effectively places his title aspirations on life support. As a result, Bowyer fell from second in the standings, 35 points off the lead, to last, 185 back. His crew chief, Shane Wilson, was fined $15,000 and suspended for six weeks. Car chief Chad Haney was also given a six-week vacation. The difference?

Aftermath

After victory at Loudon

Pos.	Driver	Points	Behind
1	D. Hamlin	5,230	--
2	C. Bowyer	5,195	-35
3	K. Harvick	5,185	-45
4	Ky. Busch	5,168	-62
5	J. Gordon	5,155	-75
6	Ku. Busch	5,144	-86
7	J. Johnson	5,138	-92
8	C. Edwards	5,135	-95
9	G. Biffle	5,122	-108
10	J. Burton	5,118	-112
11	T. Stewart	5,106	-124
12	M. Kenseth	5,094	-136

After the penalty

Pos.	Driver	Points	Behind
1	D. Hamlin	5,230	--
2	K. Harvick	5,185	-45
3	Ky. Busch	5,168	-62
4	J. Gordon	5,155	-75
5	Ku. Busch	5,144	-86
6	J. Johnson	5,138	-92
7	C. Edwards	5,135	-95
8	G. Biffle	5,122	-108
9	J. Burton	5,118	-112
10	T. Stewart	5,106	-124
11	M. Kenseth	5,094	-136
12	C. Bowyer	5,045	-185

According to NASCAR, one team listened, and one team didn't.

"When we work with the teams, when [we] see them heading in a direction that could wind up bad for everybody, we get together and we talk about it," NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said on a conference call with reporters after the Bowyer penalty was announced. "Hendrick's [teams] immediately fixed any errors that they had in what ... moving forward, could become a problem, and that's the difference between that and today. These problems weren't [fixed]. These issues weren't addressed."

And as a result, Bowyer's title chances, so buoyed a few days ago from a victory in New Hampshire that had him overflowing with confidence, now seem about as realistic as a return of the Sprint Cup tour to North Wilkesboro. The exact violation here is somewhat lost in secrecy and technical lingo, something to do with the rear end of the No. 33 car, and how the body is hung on the frame, and its position relative to coordinates. NASCAR officials didn't want to detail exactly what the violation was, and also declined to elaborate when asked whether the affected area would have improved performance. That's a little weak, to be honest, given that this penalty is a whopper that effectively knocks the second-place team out of the title picture.

But this isn't about NASCAR. This is about a team that by all appearances, was told not to do something, did it anyway, and is now suffering greatly as a result.

"As we've done in the past and will continue to do so in trying to regulate the sport, a big responsibility of NASCAR is to work as hard to keep people out of trouble as it is to write penalties," Cup Series director John Darby said. "Obviously, when it gets to the point that we have to write a penalty, it's not fun for everybody. So if we can take steps in the interim or in the in-betweens to put something to rest and not have it be an issue, well, by all means we'll exhaust every effort that we can to do that. ... All we know is that the car that we inspected this week post-race New Hampshire did not meet the specifications, so we didn't have an alternative but to issue a penalty."

It all stems from the Tuesday after the regular-season finale at Richmond, when NASCAR inspected Bowyer's car at the R&D Center, a process Darby said RCR team representatives were present for. Inspectors saw some things they didn't like involving the vehicle's rear end, and NASCAR officials met with RCR officials as a result. Darby said he wanted "a very clear understanding of how we're going to proceed going forward," which seemed to be reached before teams began competition at New Hampshire later in the week.

After the Loudon event, the No. 33 car was again brought to the R&D Center for inspection, likely with flecks of confetti and spots of dried champagne still on it from Victory Lane. Darby said the post-race inspection process back in Concord, N.C., is much more "intrusive" than that at the race track, because so much of the car -- like the engine, crush panels, and other interior components -- is disassembled. That's why, he said, some vehicles pass inspection at the track but fail later on. And during that tear-down this week, Pemberton said, the No. 33 "did not meet specifications."

In a statement released late Wednesday, Childress said the car was out of tolerance by 60 thousands of an inch, and believes the infraction was the result of wrecker pushing the vehicle to Victory Lane after it ran out of fuel while Bowyer was doing his burnout. "The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory," Childress said. "That's the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center. We will appeal NASCAR's ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be."

Pemberton dismissed contact from a wrecker or another vehicle as a possibility. "We looked at a lot of different things, and we feel like we have a lot of documentation from cars for the last four years or so," he said, "and we understand that we have had cars with some severe body damage and cars without. And we don't feel that the incidental contact from a push from a wrecker helped push this car out of tolerance at all."

Clearly, NASCAR gives its championship contenders a wide berth during the Chase, obviously not wanting rules infractions or ensuing penalties to impact the title race. These tolerance warnings we've seen the last few years appear to be the sanctioning body's way of defusing potential inspection problems, so competitors can settle the Chase on the race track among themselves. If anything, we've seen a greater degree of cooperation between NASCAR and teams in recent years when it comes to this generation Cup car, a big reason why penalties of this size -- once commonplace in the early days of the "new car" -- have become a rarity. Before Wednesday, the last one was a 150-pointer levied against Brian Vickers' Red Bull team in 2008.

Now it's Bowyer's turn, and his penalty comes at the worst possible time, and brings the worst possible ramifications. Barring a shocking and unlikely reversal upon appeal by the National Stock Car Racing Commission, his championship hopes will almost certainly have to wait until next season. Bowyer, Wilson, and the rest of his RCR outfit may be paying the price now, but the real message here may be for the next title-contending team that NASCAR asks to back off on pushing tolerances too far. That penalty could make the one incurred by the No. 33 team seem small by comparison.

"At some point in time, I think that you will see [penalties] continue to rise, and you may even see it be more than what you can even gain by starting a race," Pemberton said. "It could get into the 200-point category at some point in time. We'll get there sooner or later for you."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

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• Bowyer loses 150 points, crew chief in penalty