A three-member appeals panel upheld penalties against the Henderson Motorsports No. 75 team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ruling in a Thursday hearing that the team’s disqualification from the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway would stand.
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Parker Kligerman had driven Henderson’s No. 75 Chevrolet to an apparent victory in the Fresh from Florida 250 on Feb. 14, but the truck did not pass post-race inspection when competition officials found that it failed to meet ride-height requirements, measuring too low in the rear (Section 14.17.3.2.2.2.A in the NASCAR Rule Book). That decision handed the win to Tricon Garage driver Corey Heim.
Henderson Motorsports indicated shortly after the disqualification that it planned to appeal, stating on social media: “We feel that we have a very valid case to present to NASCAR.”
In denying Henderson Motorsports’ appeal, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel explained: “The panel confirms it is more likely than not a rules violation did occur and the disqualification penalties in Rule 10.5.2.4 necessitate a race disqualification.”
Since the hearing was an expedited appeal of a disqualification, the ruling of the panel is final with no further appeals available.
Shortly after the ruling was announced, the team addressed and accepted the results of its appeal on social media.
“Unfortunately we have lost our appeal regarding our disqualification from last week’s race in Daytona,” Henderson Motorsports said via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “While we feel that we had a very strong case, we respect the panel’s decision. We’d again like to thank all the fans for their support. We’ve shown that we can compete, and we’ll be back. See you all in Bristol!”
The three-member panel was comprised of Bill Mullis, Tommy Wheeler and Kevin Whitaker.