Commission overturns NBS penalty on No. 5 HMS team

On October 23, 2007, the National Stock Car Racing Commission heard and considered the appeal of Hendrick Motorsports regarding the No. 5 NASCAR Busch Series car driven by Kyle Busch. The appeal concerned a penalty issued by NASCAR following post-race inspection on Sept. 29, 2007, for the Busch Series event at Kansas Speedway.

The infractions concerned Section 12-4-A of the NASCAR Rule Book "Actions detrimental to stock car racing;" Section 12-4-Q "Any determination by NASCAR Officials that the car, car parts, components and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR rules" and Section 20A-5.9.D(4): "Unapproved intake manifold modifications to the plenum area."

The penalty assessed was a $10,000.00 fine for crew chief Michael Bumgarner.

The Appellants argued that the manifold design had been previously approved, the manifold in question had successfully passed a number of previous inspections, and that modifications permitted under the current Busch Series manifold rules were largely subjective in this area when it came to enforcement.

In deciding the Appeal, the Commission considered several factors:

• Cars, car parts, components and/or equipment are not approved by reason of having passed through inspection at any time or any number of times unobserved or undetected.

• While rules enforcement must, by necessity, be discretionary in areas not readily measured by gauge, scale or template, the current Busch Series manifold rules place extra emphasis on a strictly visual determination of whether or not too much material has been extracted in the plenum area during the polishing process. By and large, Officials need the flexibility to say when a modification has "gone too far." However, a direct comparison with the unpolished manufacturer casting or other approved pieces can be inconclusive in some respects without the introduction of additional enforcement parameters.

• The manifold did conform to the applicable NASCAR-approved gauges and other measuring devices.

Therefore it is the unanimous decision of the National Stock Car Racing Commission to rescind (overturn) the original penalty assessed by NASCAR.

In a statement, team owner Rick Hendrick said he was happy with the outcome.

"Obviously, we're pleased with the decision," Hendrick said. "We appreciate the commission giving us the opportunity to present the facts and send a clear message about our performance at Kansas.

"The team prepared a race-winning car that met every rule in the book. It's important that our fans, our sponsors and our competitors know that's the case."