Toyota, Red Bull Team In A Heap Of Trouble with Fines and Suspensions

What happens when you play so hard with the NASCAR rulebook that the gray area is no longer in play? You lose a chunk of points, a chunk of money, get suspended and screw over your driver. That's what happens.

After the Martinsville race, the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota was one of the additional cars that was randomly selected to have further tests / examinations conducted on it. It's kind of like an anti-lottery.

After Brian Vickers 11th place finish, the car was taken to the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. where they found the issue.

The issue being that the team altered the sheet metal on the car to make it thinner than required. The sides of the car —the doors, fenders and quarter panels — were too thin. And changing the sheet metal, changes the weight of the car. This makes it lighter. More maneuverable in the corners.

The vapor pages of the NASCAR rule book says a car must use a minimum of 24-gauge (0.025 inch thick) sheet steel for their car bodies.

The process of thinning metal is called the practice of "acid dipping" or "chemical milling,". This is specifically forbidden. (Like I said, they booted the gray area to the curb with this one.)

The fallout?

• Brian Vickers was penalized 150 driver points
• Crew chief Kevin Hamlin fined $100,000
• Car owner Dietrich Mateschitz docked 150 owner points
• Kevin Hamlin will be watching the race from his couch. (Suspended indefinitely)
• Car chief Craig Smokstad will be watching with him on the same couch. (Suspended indefinitely)

I think Red Bull is pissed too.

Red Bull Racings general manager Jay Frye, accepted responsibility and will not appeal the penalties.

Frye also said: "This approach to racing is against the values of the Red Bull Racing Team, and the necessary steps will be taken to rectify the situation ensuring it does not happen again."

For now, the teams research and development manager Randy Cox would act as interim crew chief this weekend at Atlanta.

dOh!

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Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images
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