Thirty-One Teams Have Parts Confiscated at Daytona!

Today (Thursday, Jul 4,2013) at Daytona International Speedway thirty-one different teams failed inspections and had their illegal parts confiscated by NASCAR.

Sixteen NACAR Sprint Cup Teams!  And after NASCAR found the Cup infractions, they decided to check the Nationwide garage.  Guess what!!! 

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The part in question were modified roof flap spacers that apparently were made lighter.  The spacers support the hinge bar of the roof flaps.

In addition to the sixteen Cup teams, there were also fifteen NASCAR Nationwide Series teams that had the same thing/problem.

If you look at the list of teams, you'll see quit a bit of crossover...

Cup Teams

• • Joe Gibbs Racing - Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth
• • Michael Waltrip Racing - Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr.
• • Penske Racing - Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano
• • Richard Petty Motorsports - Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola
• • Roush Fenway Racing - Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Carl Edwards
• • Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears

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Nationwide Teams

• • Joe Gibbs Racing - Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth
• • Richard Petty Motorsports - Michael Annett
• • Roush Fenway Racing - Trevor Bayne, Travis Pastrana
• • Blake Koch, Cole Whitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Landon Cassill, Mike Bliss, Reed Sorenson, Robert Richardson Jr., Jason White and Dexter Stacey.

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I don't think I've ever seen something this widespread happen at a race weekend... not so many teams for the same inspection issue.

It seems that there might have been a mentality about where the teams trim the "fat" of the weight of the cars.  And the modifications varied from team to team.

But NASCAR hands out these components, and expects the teams to use the parts, as is, as handed out.  The teams involved obviously took some "proactive" competitive measures.

I'm sure there will be more details to follow... at the least, penalties announced no later than next Tuesday.

Some ideas to keep in mind is that there are a few crew chiefs of these teams already on probation.  Those would be Keselowski and Logano.  But traditionally probations are focused on the same penalty being broken.  Not different ones.  (Then what's the point of the probation?)

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In case you don't know, the roof flaps are the flaps that pop up when a car gets out of hand and gets sideways or backwards.  It helps break up the air flow and prevent lift.  Breaking up the aero lift keeps the cars on the ground... in most cases.
-Bruce
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