People are never gonna stop cheating in any sport, I do agree with the 500 points being taken away but as for money being taken away that's stupid becasue these guys can proble plant money trees in there back yard..lol

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From NASCAR.com

This week's hot-button debate focuses on repeat offenders.

Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte were both hit with a six-week suspension and their team took a 100-point hit due to illegal modifications to their cars before qualifying at Sonoma. This is Letarte's first offense while Knaus has been in trouble numerous times in the past.

Should NASCAR increase penalties on repeat offenders?

Read both sides of the argument and then weigh in with your take.

YES
Haven't we been here before?

Chad Knaus is once again banned from the racetrack due to illegal modifications to the No. 48 Chevrolet driven be Jimmie Johnson.

Last year at Daytona, it was a rear window that brought Knaus a mandatory four-week vacation. This year at Sonoma, a 10-inch piece of the front fender equals six weeks off for him and Hendrick Motorsports teammate and fellow crew chief Steve Letarte.

For Letarte, this is his first infraction. But Knaus has a history of breaking the rules and it's time NASCAR stops worrying about being fair, and starts punishing based on past history.

In '06, there was Daytona. In '05, Knaus was suspended two races and the team docked 25 points for having the car's roof too low at Las Vegas although in appeal, his suspension was lifted. In '03, at the Coca-Cola 600, Johnson's car had an unapproved fuel system and Knaus was fined $2,500 after winning the race. In '02, a 25-point deduction and $25,000 fine for Knaus at the Daytona July race for offsetting bolts.

That's quite the resume.

In the last six years, Knaus has been punished by NASCAR five times for illegal modifications to his car. Yet, the 48 team just chugs along and hasn't finished outside the top five in points.

Where is the deterrent to prevent cheating?

It's not there and Knaus knows no matter how many times he gets caught, his job is safe and the team will continue to be successful.

It seems to me we should be at the point that these are no longer considered "accidents," but clear rule violations yet NASCAR continues to turn a blind eye. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me five times and well, it's the same as a first-time offender.

Football, baseball, basketball -- all these sports look at past history when making a decision on how to punish someone. If the individual is constantly in trouble, the results are a stiffer punishment. When does Knaus fit the label "constantly in trouble?"

It's time NASCAR starts looking at Knaus for what he is, a habitual rule-violator, and punish accordingly.

• Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM


NO
On its face, the idea of a policy to penalize repeat offenders more severely seems logical. If the same folks keep repeating the same offenses, it stands to reason that increasing the penalties might act as a deterrent.

It's the basis for countless "three strikes" laws around the country. You break the law three times and there's a mandatory sentence and that's the problem. There's no ability for judges to use discretion in determining the severity of the offense.

That would be the same problem NASCAR would face in any attempt to impose increasing sanctions against violations of its rulebook. If every violation was worth equal value -- and not just in the catch-all phrase "actions detrimental to stock car racing" -- it would be easy to hand down successively stricter penalties for each infraction.

But there's the rub: Every violation is not the same. Can you compare what the Hendrick teams did last weekend at Sonoma -- cars that don't pass inspection -- to Kurt Busch's meltdown at Dover? They were both worth a 100-point penalty, but which was the more serious situation?

Is it fair to take into consideration an unrelated incident that happened several years ago and apply it as a "previous infraction?" What if it happened in the Busch or Craftsman Truck Series?

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. uses a curse word in a post-race television interview and gets slapped with a fine, should the same rule apply to drivers who utter one on their two-way radios during the race? It's the same word, used in a different context.

A "three strikes" rule would also place NASCAR in a difficult position of trying to determine intent. In the case of Junior's wing bracket, should NASCAR have to determine if the team mistakenly put the wrong part on the car or did it on purpose with the idea of gaining an advantage?

A lack of consistency has plagued NASCAR's rules decisions over the years, but going to a "three strikes" policy puts the sanctioning body in a no-win situation. Escalating penalties for repeat offenders makes sense -- if there are repeat offenses -- but that's rarely the case here. For once, let NASCAR dole out the penalties based on discretion, not a set formula.
• Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM

I was watching Nascar Raceday this morning and they were talking about the COT cars are gonna be kinda like IROC cars where they are all gonna be the same and there really won't be any competition. Then I think racing won't be as fun if they all run the same. Just my opinion.

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they don't just cheat in nascar they do it everwhere. your local track just lost two great racers beacuse they where getting tried of all cheating. i guess miss the memo that racing is how while you can cheat and get away with it.

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NASCAR plans to address the issue of suspended crew chiefs continuing to do their jobs from locations at the track but outside of the garage.

Crew chief Tony Eury Jr., for example, reportedly worked with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team last weekend from a motorcoach parked on a hill outside New Hampshire International Speedway as he completed a six-week suspension.

NASCAR chairman Brian France said that insults the integrity of the penalty.

"We just had a meeting about that,'' France said during a Tuesday afternoon conference call. "We will be, if that all is accurate, addressing that shortly.''


Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. didn't just sit around after getting suspended for six weeks. He started really planning ways to improve Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s performance, writes Marty Smith. Story

France did not expand on what may be done. A crackdown could have an immediate impact on plans for the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Crew chiefs Steve Letarte (Gordon) and Chad Knaus (Johnson) are in the second week of a six-week suspension that began after NASCAR ruled their cars failed initial inspection at the road course in Sonoma, Calif.

Overall, France is satisfied that NASCAR is doing everything it can to discourage cheating, particularly when it comes to the Car of Tomorrow.

Beyond the suspensions to Eury, Letarte and Knaus for tampering with the COT, the crew chiefs were fined $100,000 each and the drivers and owners docked 100 points each.

"We feel very strongly that we're going to be very, very tough on people that test us with the Car of Tomorrow,'' France said. "The whole premise is built around not being able to do much fudging with the car.''

While France said NASCAR will continue to escalate penalties for COT violations, he said they will not be customized to impact teams differently, based on the number of points they have. Gordon's and Johnson's teams could better afford a 100-point hit than some others.

Gordon remains atop the standings with a 156-point edge over Denny Hamlin and Johnson remained in the top five after their teams were penalized.

Despite the suspensions, Gordon finished second and Johnson fifth on Sunday at New Hampshire.

"The teams that are winning, despite what we may fine them, they are just good teams,'' France said. "They're going to win when they race with the same rules package everybody else has.

"They get through any kind of adversity to a point. ... We can't just customize the penalty based on the circumstance. Meaning, the [Gordon] car that has compiled a bunch of points, we can't just say that is going to be 200 instead of 100 because he has a big lead. But we can find the right penalties.''

David Newton covers motorsports for ESPN.com.

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The JACK CREW!!!

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Warning to suspended crew chiefs: Come to the track if you dare. Just don't brag about it.


That was the message delivered by Nextel Cup series director John Darby prior to Thursday's practice at Daytona International Speedway.

"Personally, I don't care if he's watching a race from the grandstands," Darby said. "When a crew chief that went through that is bold enough to throw it back at us, we'll react to it."

NASCAR chairman Brian France said on Tuesday that the governing body had a meeting to address the issue of suspended crew chiefs who continue to do their jobs from locations at the track but outside of the garage.

The meeting came after Tony Eury Jr., the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr., said he worked with the team last week at New Hampshire from a motorcoach on a hill overlooking the track.

Eury said on Thursday he was at five of the six races -- including three in a motorcoach in the infield and one in a suite at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- after NASCAR suspended him for having an illegal rear wing mount at Darlington.

The only race he missed was the road course event in Sonoma, Calif., because he didn't want to ask the motorcoach driver to make a cross-country trip.

While Darby said it is almost impossible to police such activity, he did leave the possibility of further suspension if it is thrown in NASCAR's face.

"Theoretically, most penalties written severe enough to include a suspension also include a probation," he said. "If Tony Jr. keeps running his yap we could easily send him home for another six weeks."

A suspension means the person is not allowed to enter the garage, be on pit road, be in a spotter's stand or in a scorer's stand or use two-way radios to communicate with the driver and crew.

"All of those are things you have to have a valid NASCAR license," Darby said. "Working with the teams that's where we felt comfortable policing."

NASCAR official were aware that other crew chiefs have been coming inside the track or to a nearby location to remain involved with the team.

Kasey Kahne's crew chief, Kenny Francis, said he watched the first four races from a hotel near the track.

"We were just told not to flaunt it," he said.

Eury's comments about watching last week's race, in which Earnhardt finished fourth, apparently came off as flaunting to France.

"We'll have to look into it now," Darby said. "That could be possibly turning the wick up and then holding the line a little tighter. But when all is said and done, all that is going to do is make them dig deeper into a hole. It's America. You can't stop somebody from coming to a town.

"Yes to what Brian says. We'll look into it deeper, throw the fear of God into everybody and hope they don't be seen at the racetrack," Darby said.

Darby then alluded to a possible ulterior motive for Eury.

"I'm not so sure Tony Jr. wasn't trying to mess up Chad and Steve," he said of Chad Knaus (Jimmie Johnson) and Steve Letarte (Jeff Gordon), in the second of a six-week suspension for violations discovered at Sonoma.

Eury said he simply played within the rules NASCAR gave him.

"It's kind of blown up in the last week, making a big deal out of it," he said. "This kind of shows you the man at the top knows what's going on. I know he's pretty mad about the whole deal."

Eury said even if NASCAR found a way to keep crew chiefs from the track it wouldn't prevent him from doing his job.

"I did the same thing from my house at Dover that I can do here," he said, noting he left Dover and went home after it was apparent the race would be delayed a day by rain. "The biggest thing is you can't hear the radio chatter."

But Darby insisted banning the crew chief from the garage is the harshest penalty.

"You can run out in the parking lot and tell the crew chief what my right front tire looks like, but unless that crew chief is physically there to look at that right front tire the message isn't going to get across," he said. "The suspensions in my mind are still effective.

"They're just as effective as if the guy is in the parking lot or the guy is at home," he said.

Gordon, who finished second last week without Letarte on the pit box, agreed.

"With the communication we have these days, we're going to talk to them," he said. "[But] they're not going to be up on the box calling the race and that's taking away from our race day activity and our whole race weekend.

"We're still serving a penalty. Just because we're able to still be in some kind of communication with them doesn't mean we're not still suffering from the loss," he said.

Gordon said Letarte and Knaus won't be at Daytona this week because it's an impound race and the dynamics of having an extra set of eyes on location aren't critical.

He wasn't sure about next week at Chicago.

"All I can say is that we are going to go by the guidelines that they set forth," he said. "We stuck to exactly what they told us we could do. That's why our crew chiefs were at New Hampshire. We didn't do anything that we were told not to do.

"We haven't decided what we can do going forward. If they change those regulations, then we'll live by them," he said.

David Newton covers motorsports for ESPN.com.

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The JACK CREW!!!

NASCAR has changed its policy and will not allow crew chiefs to attend races while they are suspended, NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Previously, the policy was to simply suspend a NASCAR license, meaning crew chiefs and others under suspension could not enter a track's garage area or pit road.(SceneDaily.com)(7-6-2007)

All I can say is...It's about time!! NA$CAR finally did something right!
When on suspension there should be NO communication between the CC and the team.

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