Reiser, Francis allowed at Bristol for COT test

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- While two familiar faces showed themselves at Bristol Motor Speedway for Car of Tomorrow testing Wednesday, two others were conspicuously missing.

Robbie Reiser, crew chief for the No. 17 Ford driven by Matt Kenseth, and Kenny Francis, team director for the No. 9 Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne, were welcomed back by NASCAR with open arms for the critical COT testing session -- despite that fact that they are only halfway through serving the four-race suspensions that were levied against them Feb. 13 for rules violations during qualifying for the Daytona 500.

But David Hyder and Bobby Kennedy of Michael Waltrip Racing were nowhere to be found at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Nextel Cup Series director John Darby made it sound like no one would be seeing them near a track anytime soon. Hyder had served as crew chief for the No. 55 Toyota driven by Michael Waltrip, and Kennedy was the team's vice president of competiton. Both were suspended indefinitely by NASCAR after an illegal substance -- some type of fuel additive -- was discovered in the engine manifold of Waltrip's car prior to Daytona 500 qualifying.

"The penalty notices in regards to Kenny Francis and Robbie Reiser were written specifically excluding NASCAR testing from their suspensions. So they're here and they're more than welcome to be here," Darby said. "The crew chief and the vice president of competition for Michael Waltrip Racing are just suspended indefinitely with no exclusions, so they are not here."

In addition to being suspended indefinitely, Hyder also was fined $100,000 by NASCAR. He later was put on what was described as a paid leave of absence by Michael Waltrip Racing, and was told not to come around the team's shop until it could be determined if and to what extent he was involved. Waltrip also was docked 100 driver points and team owner Buffy Waltrip, Michael's wife, was docked 100 owner points.

Asked where NASCAR's investigation of the Waltrip incident stood Wednesday, Darby replied: "We're pretty much done with it. We did our due diligence in testing to analyze to see what it was and what it wasn't, and made the determination that it wasn't supposed to be there. Then we assessed the penalty as such and went to California.

"We do still have the car and everything, but that's more part of standard operation procedure than any ongoing investigation."

Darby also said that in time Hyder and Kennedy will be allowed to apply for reinstatement, although Hyder, at least, will have no need or no avenue to pursue that if he eventually is fired as expected by Michael Waltrip Racing. Darby said he had no time frame currently in mind for when either Hyder or Kennedy could apply for reinstatement, but hinted that NASCAR would like to have more information volunteered by those involved in the incident before that could take place.

"The team will have the ability to apply for reinstatement for either one or both of the crew members in time," Darby said. "At the time of reapplication, if the feeling internally is that it still hasn't been enough time, they will be denied. If we feel they have gone through a long enough time period, and maybe we get a little more help on how the whole situation came together, we'll look at it that way."

Meanwhile, Reiser and Francis appeared to be enjoying their time at Bristol before resuming their four-race suspensions. They also were fined $50,000 each, while their drivers and team owners were docked 50 points each as well. The two crew chiefs will go before an appeals committee next week in an attempt to at least have some of the penalties reduced -- but they aren't fighting their suspensions.

They told the Associated Press that they handled not being at the last two races as well as could be expected.

"You listen on TrackPass and follow it as closely as you can, but it's not the same as being on the box," said Francis, who added that he instant messaged his team during last Sunday's race in California.

"It's tough not being there. There's no way around it," Reiser added.