Sports

NASCAR’s Biggest Ongoing Controversy Just Took Yet Another Massive Twist

#NASCAR
by

Getty Image


What a complete and utter mess NASCAR has on its hands.

Two weeks ago, NASCAR brought the hammer down on its biggest and most successful team, Hendrick Motorsports.

The series slammed all four Hendrick teams with massive penalties after it discovered that the team had altered stock parts issued by designated manufacturers.

When the series switched to its current “Next Gen” model, it strongly emphasized to teams that parts, which are all manufactured by the same companies and distributed to teams, may not be modified in any way. Hendrick fell afoul of that rule and paid the price…briefly.

Hendrick then appealed the penalty to an independent appeals panel. The panel ruled that Hendrick did break the rule, but it still significantly rolled back the penalty.

This did not sit well with other teams in the garage.

But that was just the start.

Kaulig Racing, which only entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022, was hit with the same penalty following the same inspection that Hendrick faced. Kaulig also appealed and, at least technically speaking, also won its appeal. Except the reduction in points penalty wasn’t nearly as large as it was for Hendrick.

This left fans fuming and with little trust for the series.

But wait, there’s more!

On Thursday, NASCAR announced that it had penalized two of Hendrick’s four teams for once again modifying stock parts at last weekend’s race in Richmond, Virginia.

Coincidentally, the modifications were not found and thus not applied to drivers Kyle Larson and Josh Berry, who finished first and second in the race at Richmond.

Fans as expected, were extremely skeptical of the latest penalties.

Ultimately, there’s very little NASCAR can actually do other than hand down penalties. But if the appeals board continues its inconsistency, the sport is in a very, very difficult spot.

https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1644075290811924483/retweets/with_comments