Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 crew chief addresses potential skirt violation
RELATED: NASCAR investigates possible infraction by No. 48 team
Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus explained his crew's actions in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race that led NASCAR officials to review a potential infraction for allegedly altering body panels on the No. 48 Chevrolet of driver Jimmie Johnson.
On FOX Sports 1's "NASCAR Race Hub", Knaus analyzed a video of Johnson hitting the wall with his right rear during the first segment of Saturday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and then described how the No. 48 team reacted.
"Right here you can see Jimmie gets into the wall a little bit, and what it did, it pushed the right-side skirt in a little bit," Knaus said. "When we came down for the first pit stop on the first segment, my guys went out there. They were repairing the car.
"There was work on the left side that we had to do from contact with the 22 (Joey Logano). The skirt was pushed in, and the guys pulled it out a little bit. And NASCAR saw that and they didn't like it.
"So we'll be talking to them about it. I don't know what's going to come of it right now, but I don't think it was too big of a deal personally."
Winner of a record four all-star races, Knaus said "it wasn't a good race for us," and he noted that "Jimmie was really loose at the beginning of the race.
"(He) got sideways, got into the wall a little bit, incurred some damage at that point."
A NASCAR spokesperson said after post-race inspection that the potential violation involved allegedly modifying a side skirt late in the 110-lap race, a practice that NASCAR vowed to police in 2015 after it became rampant last season.
NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Monday that the sanctioning body would apply its penalty policy even though the event did not pay championship points.
"Still evaluating that like we do and if we make a decision to react, that would be on Tuesday, but there's a lot on the line for the All-Star Race," O'Donnell said. "It's not a points race, but certainly we know how much it means to win that race, so hopefully we don't have to make a call on this, but we would maintain the rule book throughout the race."
The Team Penske No. 2 team of Brad Keselowski was penalized for a similar infraction earlier this season, just before Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. NASCAR levied a P2-level penalty under the NASCAR deterrence system, placing crew chief Paul Wolfe on probation through the end of the year.