Dale Earnhardt Jr. Penalized, Crew Chief Suspended

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Penalized, Crew Chief Suspended
Posted on May 15th, 2007 at 6:39 pm by Editor

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 100 points Tuesday, and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races for an illegal part at Darlington Raceway. The penalty is a significant setback in his team’s bid to win a Cup title before racing’s most popular driver leaves after the season. Dale Earnhardt Inc. will appeal, team president Max Siegel said. “We are not disputing the ruling,” Siegel said. “But we are appealing the severity of the penalty because the penalty itself is not spelled out in the rule book.”

According to NASCAR, the No. 8 team was found to have violated Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules), and 20-3.1.3B (the NASCAR-approved upper and lower rear wing mounting brackets must not be modified to obtain a rear-wing angle of less than zero degrees or more than 16 degrees) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book.

Eury Jr.’s suspension begins immediately and would include this weekend’s Nextel All-Star Challenge and the next six points events, but if DEI appeals he’ll be allowed to work until the appeal is heard. If he does ultimately miss races, car chief Tony Gibson will replace him on top of the pit box. The penalty knocked Earnhardt from 12th in the standings – the final qualifying position for the Chase for the Nextel Cup – to 14th. He’s now 721 points behind points leader Jeff Gordon, and 54 points out of Chase contention.