No. 33 penalty reduced from P4 to P2

Five days after the violation was discovered, NASCAR issued a three-race suspension and a $50,000 fine for No. 33 crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe, placing him on probation through the end of the year. Tuesday, the three-member panel ruled that the suspension would stand, but that the fine would be reduced to $20,000.

The panel also reduced the 25-point penalty to a 10-point deduction for Falk in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car owner championship standings. The restored 15 points move Circle Sport up one spot to 34th place in the owner standings, just ahead of Mike Hillman Racing's No. 40 team.

Both initial penalties were within the terms of a P4 infraction according to the NASCAR deterrence system, which was introduced before the 2014 season. The revised penalties are within the less-severe P2 heading.

Circle Sport has the recourse of making a final appeal for further reduction or removal of the penalties to National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss, but Falk indicated the team would not pursue the matter further.

The Circle Sport infraction concerned three areas of Section 20 -- "Rear Suspension: Truck Trailing Arm" -- in the 2015 NASCAR Rule Book, saying that the part was not properly installed or constructed. The initial violation also fell under the heading of Section 12.1, the universal designation of "Actions detrimental to stock car racing."

But the panel ruled that the truck trailing arm's mounting bracket adapter was found to be in violation, only in that it was made of aluminum and not the specified magnetic steel flat plate. The panel also ruled that "the other infractions are subject to interpretation," resulting in the reduced severity.

"The process was very fair," Falk said in a statement. "We agree the part should have been presented (beforehand) to the R&D Center. We're satisfied with the outcome and we won't appeal further."

The appeals panel was composed of Russell Hackett, longtime owner of NASCAR-affiliated Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, North Carolina; former driver Lake Speed; and John White, a former racer and owner of Chemung (New York) Speedrome.

Labbe, 46, was most recently a full-time crew chief for the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevy driven by Paul Menard from 2010-2014. He stepped away from the pit box last October to transition into a lead role in RCR's research and development department, but has made occasional appearances as a crew chief for Childress-affiliated teams this season. Labbe has sat out the last two races to serve part of the suspension.

The No. 33 team holds close ties to the Childress organization, which has placed its drivers Ty Dillon and Brian Scott -- both NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars -- in part-time Sprint Cup appearances under the Circle Sport banner. Alex Kennedy (three races) and Michael Annett (one) have made the other starts for Falk, who has entered the No. 33 in all seven Sprint Cup races this year.

Richard Childress Racing has its eyes on a second appeal hearing this week, also stemming from the Auto Club race weekend. RCR's No. 31 Chevrolet team, driven by Ryan Newman, will challenge a P5 penalty Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. NASCAR officials handed down the punishment March 31 after determining that the No. 31 team illegally altered air pressures in its tires during the Auto Club 400.

Tuesday's appeal was the second case of the season handled by the rotating three-member panel, which held a hearing Feb. 21 in NASCAR's Daytona Beach offices for Kurt Busch, who was suspended the previous day because of allegations of domestic violence. It was the first hearing held at the R&D Center in Concord since last Oct. 1, when the NTS Motorsports No. 20 team challenged a P2 penalty for ride-height violations after the Sept. 13 race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Chicagoland Speedway.

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