A three-member appeals panel upheld L1-grade penalties Wednesday against Team Penske's No. 2 Ford team for failing technical inspection after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on March 19 at Phoenix Raceway.
The ruling by the National Motorsports Appeal Panel confirms the penalty issued by NASCAR on March 22, fining the team $65,000, handing a three-race suspension to crew chief Paul Wolfe, and docking Brad Keselowski 35 points in the drivers' standings and Roger Penske an equal point total in the team owners' standings.
Wednesday afternoon, Team Penske issued a statement saying that it will exercise its right to appeal the ruling to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, Bryan Moss. NASCAR representatives said that a date for the final appeal hearing has not been set.
"While we are disappointed in today's results, we plan to immediately request a final appeal hearing as outlined in the NASCAR rulebook," the team said in its statement. "While the appeals process runs its course, we will continue to move forward and our focus will remain on getting prepared for the upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway."
Wolfe has already served one race of his three-race ban, sitting out the March 26 event at Auto Club Speedway. Team Penske had delayed its appeal request until after the Auto Club race to provide an opportunity to further inspect its Phoenix vehicle at its Mooresville, North Carolina, shop.
Brian Wilson replaced Wolfe at Auto Club, leading the No. 2 team to a second-place finish. Wolfe returned -- with the appeal pending -- the following weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where Keselowski scored his second victory of the season.
A representative for Team Penske said that Wolfe would continue in his current role as the organization awaited a final appeal date to be determined. The Monster Energy Series is off this weekend, with the next scheduled event on April 23 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Team Penske's penalty fell under the heading of Section 20.17.3.1.2 of the 2017 NASCAR Rule Book, which addresses general measurements (in this instance, rear steer) in the team's post-race pass through the Laser Inspection Station (LIS).
The three members of the National Motorsports Appeal Panel attending Wednesday's hearing were:
-- Rick Crawford, former driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
-- Hunter Nickell, former president of the SPEED Channel
-- Dale Pinilis, longtime operator of Bowman Gray Stadium