By AMANDA VINCENT
Kaulig Racing’s No. 31 NASCAR Cup Series team of Justin Haley had its points penalty reduced in its appeal to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on Wednesday. The original points deduction was reduced from 100 driver and owner points to 75 points.
After NASCAR officials confiscated the hood louvers from the No. 31 car after practice during the Phoenix Raceway weekend in March, Haley and the team were docked 100 driver and owner points and 10 playoff points, the team was fined $100,000 and crew chief Trent Owens was suspended four races for modifying a single-source supplier part.
The other penalties — the 10 playoff points, monetary fine and suspension — stood after Wednesday’s appeal. The team has the option to appeal one more time to the National Motorsports Appeals Chief Appellate Officer. The team announced Thursday morning it would make that appeal.
“You know what goes on in your garage and you know what happens and single-source suppliers and knowing the rules and different things is really tough nowadays,” Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice said on FS1’s Race Hub show Wednesday evening. “I sit here, and I stand behind my guys. I stand behind everybody at Kaulig Racing. We upheld the rules and we did what we know is legal, so it’s been a tough hour or two. I’m not gonna lie to you, but we’ll get through this. We’re a very strong race team. We’re only two years into the Cup Series. That’s what is big about our race team. We don’t give up. We’re not gonna give up on this. So it’s just kind of disheartening.”
Although Kaulig Racing is appealing again, it has opted not to defer Owens’ suspension until the second appeal is made. Eddie Pardue will be Haley’s crew chief for Sunday night’s dirt race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Pardue was slated to be Jonathan Davenport’s crew chief on Kaulig’s No. 13 team for that race. Instead, George Spencer, engineer on the No. 16 Kaulig team of A.J. Allmendinger, will be Davenport’s crew chief at Bristol.
All four Hendrick Motorsports teams — the No. 5 of Kyle Larson, the No. 9 of Josh Berry (as dub for the injured Chase Elliott, the No. 24 of William Byron and the No. 48 of Alex Bowman — were penalized for the same rule infraction at Phoenix. After its appeal last week, the HMS teams had all its points penalties rescinded. Like Kaulig, though, the HMS fines and suspensions stood.
An Appeals Panel that heard the Kaulig appeal consisted of different individuals than the one that heard the Hendrick appeal.
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