NASCAR officials indicated Wednesday that Stewart-Haas Racing has dropped its request for an appeal hearing to contest L2-grade penalties against the No. 4 Ford team.
The No. 4 crew was penalized Oct. 5 for unapproved modification of a single-source part, and the team had announced its intent to appeal the punishment two days later. The infraction was found in a technical inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center after the previous weekend’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
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Driver Kevin Harvick was issued a 100-point deduction in the Cup Series drivers standings, and the No. 4 team was handed an equal penalty in the car owner standings. Crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 and suspended for four races.
Even with an appeal pending, Childers sat out the first race of his suspension for last weekend’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, with team engineer Stephen Doran filling in atop the No. 4 pit box. Childers, who marked his milestone 600th Cup Series start at Talladega, is on schedule to return for the Nov. 6 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Harvick qualified for this year’s Cup Series Playoffs with two regular-season wins, scoring back-to-back top finishes at Michigan and Richmond. With the 100-point penalty affirmed, he is ranked 16th among the drivers who qualified for the 10-race postseason.