Stewart's Daytona Penalty, Dillon's 2nd Oops and B Samples

Tony Stewart's Penalty
I don't know about you but I was surprised to hear about Tony Stewart's car not passing post-race inspection after he won the Daytona race last weekend.

"The No. 14 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the NASCAR Rule Book); and 20-2.1J (unapproved open vent hose inside of the car). The violation occurred during post-qualifying inspection July 6.

As a result, crew chief Steve Addington has been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Aug. 22. Car chief Jeff Meendering has been placed on NASCAR probation until Aug. 22. Driver Tony Stewart and owner Margaret Haas have been penalized with the loss of six championship driver and six championship owner points, respectively."

Ouch.

Later reports indicated that the competition director for Stewart's Stewart-Haas Racing team, Greg Zipadelli, indicated that this was not an intentional penalty (are any of them?) and came about in a hasty repair to a rear window.  Doing that

"...jostled a cooling hose that was behind the seat. We understand NASCAR's position and will abide by its decision."

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Austin Dillon Dinged Again
I'm sad for Austin Dillon, to see his first win marred by a race inspection failure, but then in the subsequent weekend (last weekend) at Daytona, they again failed another inspection.  This can get bad because team members were on probation from the first violation!

"The No. 3 team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1; 12-4J and 20A-2.1J (unapproved open vent hose inside of the car). This violation occurred during post-qualifying inspection on July 6.

Crew chief Danny Stockman has been fined $10,000 and due to the violation of his probation, has been suspended from NASCAR until July 25. Car chief Robert Strmiska has also been suspended from NASCAR competition until July 25 due to the violation of his probation. This past May 1, both Stockman and Strmiska were placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, for rules violations committed at Richmond International Raceway.

Driver Austin Dillon and owner Morgan Shepherd have been penalized with the loss of six championship driver and six championship owner points, respectively."

Austin is going to have a tough go at it, recovering from this, unless he has his own Stewart-streak in upcoming races!
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AJ Allmendinger B Sample
Fans are shocked as is AJ Allmendinger and his team from his failed drug test.  But following NASCAR protocol, AJ was allowed to submit a second part of his first sample, called the B sample, for subsequent testing.

The B sample results could get AJ out from under this hot water, or could cement the over-shadowing doom of this cloud.

It's been said he's a very health conscious individual and all parties concerned are surprised.

Fans out there are concerned that there could be a situation where the tests are pulling up false positives for drugs that are not illicit drugs.  AKA, back in the day, some poor folks started discovering that mouth wash had just enough alcohol in it to help a driver fail a sobriety test!  So fans are focused on that aspect of the situation.

Everyone is holding their breath, awaiting news.  AJ Allmendinger's fans are standing by their man, as is his team.   Though they've entered Sam Hornish Jr as the driver for New Hampshire... just in case things go poorly in the testing realm.
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Stewart and Zippadelli Are Buddy Buddy Once Again

Or not.

After the end of the Richmond race, Tony Stewart jut vomited blame all over Zipadelli and the crew of the No. 20 Toyota when he was pulling into the pits. His finger of blame was pointed straight at the team.

Yet TV replays don't seem to show any untoward lack of speed by his pit crew and he was snug tight 2nd coming out of the pits. His crew did a great job, Johnson's did a superb job.

What I saw at the end of that race was the 48 car running the high line, using less tire on the outside, and having the momentum of engine RPM to hold off Stewart.

Stewart on the other hand, had a superbly handing car through the low line, having tons of power to do it with (No magnets there I guess!) but getting beat by the momentum Johnson carried out of the corners. It was a fun match to watch.

After so many laps of running the inside line and using up his tires just a hair more than Johnson on every lap, there was nothing left of him. (One needs to turn the wheel just a tad more to maintain a lower line than the guy on the outside line.)

To me, the superior tactic won out in the long run and Tony maybe should have waited, followed Johnson for a period of time in that outside groove, biding his time until the last few laps and tried to take the line from Johnson. But no... instead, we call the wah-ambulance from inside the No. 20 seat and do what Tony does best. Rant and rave in his usual indignant form that says it should have been me, me, me.

Tony has said this in the past, and he's reiterated it in a press conference earlier this week: "You show me a guy who doesn't get frustrated once in a while and I'll show you a guy I can beat nine weeks out of 10 every year for the rest of my life.".

All the while, with Tony moving on to his own team next year, Zippadelli is staying with JGR so he can crew chief for Joey Logano. A smart move in my opinion. But one has to wonder if both are seeing the horizon and the end of their very long marriage.

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Tony Stewart Pic

This is a pic I snagged from the NASCAR.com news page.

Tony Stewart looks like he's saying to Zippy: "What the heck did you just call me?"