RCR driver disappointed in result but says it’s time to move forward
RELATED: Read about the original infraction, penalty
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman said he was “disappointed” his Richard Childress Racing team lost its final appeal earlier this week, but added “it’s all behind us now and we’ll move on.”
“I don’t believe at all in the outcome of it,” Newman, 37, said Friday at Kansas Speedway, site of Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). “But at the end it doesn’t really matter. We have to be focused on this weekend and the Chase for the championship, it’s as simple as that.”
His team, he said, did nothing wrong.
“And that’s why we felt we had a compelling case to win. I’ll leave it at that,” he said.
Following an approximately nine-hour hearing on Wednesday, National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss upheld P5 level penalties against the No. 31 team, letting stand a six-points-race suspension and $75,000 fine for crew chief Luke Lambert, the loss of 50 championship driver and owner points for Newman and team owner Richard Childress, as well as six-race suspensions for team engineer Philip Surgen and tire technician James Bender.
The penalties stem from a tire audit conducted following this year’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Such audits have been done following several races this year as concerns for illegally “bleeding” air pressure from tires increased.
According to the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book, any device, modification or procedure to the tire or wheel, including the valve stem hardware that is used to release pressure, beyond normal pressure adjustments, from the tire and/or inner shield, will not be permitted (20.16: A).
Also, modifications to the tires, by treatment or any other means, will not be permitted (20.16: F).
NASCAR officials originally fined Lambert $125,000 and docked Newman and Childress 75 points. A three-person National Motorsports Appeals Panel later reduced those penalties.
RCR then appealed to Moss, the last step in the appeals process.
As a result of the ruling, Newman remains 14th in points.
With Lambert now on the sidelines, veteran crew chief Todd Parrott will step in on an interim basis, beginning with this weekend’s stop at Kansas. Lambert, Bender and Surgen are expected to return to the track in July when the series visits Daytona International Speedway for the second time.
“My focus has always been on (what’s going on at) the track,” Newman said. “Obviously that changes just a little bit without having Luke and a couple of other guys here, but at the same time we’ve established a good B team that we have a lot of confidence in … there’s no doubt in my mind that the race car is going to be just as competitive as it ever has been.”