| NASCAR Seizes Part of Johnson's Daytona 500 Car Five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are back in the spotlight at one of racing's biggest stages — and not for the right reason. "You work within the templates the ideal way you're of the opinion and you're wanting to do a better job than the next guy," Howes said. NASCAR allowed the Hendrick Motorsports team to repair that area of the car before practice begins for the Feb. 26 Daytona 500. Qualifying is scheduled for Sunday. Nothing came of that situation. Knaus has been fined and penalized several other times, too. This situation doesn't appear to be as serious as it was in 2006. Sprint Cup Series officials determined the No. 48 Chevrolet had illegally modified C-posts, an area of sheet metal between the roof as well as side windows. , for further testing. In the meantime, the parts in question were put on display for other teams to examine, a routine procedure for the sanctioning body. It could lead to penalties for Knaus and also the team. and Kasey Kahne — passed inspection. He added that the No. 48 team should be able to get things fixed. "If you watch the damage that they can repair in 50 laps, they're very, very talented," Darby said. That wasn't a pre-race inspection or pre-qualifying inspection. " Howes said modifying C-posts would provide an aerodynamic advantage. "Yeah, any bodywork area, everybody's always looking," Howes said. "It's an area that you will go as far as you can because, yes, it will affect the performance of the car. That's the nature of this sort of racing, especially at Daytona. It's a matter of cutting the old ones out, welding new ones in. It'll obviously go back through inspection to make sure all of the templates are correct. Officials cut off the C-posts and planned to ship them to NASCAR's research and development center in Concord, N. Last season, Knaus was caught on camera telling Johnson that if he won at Talladega he required to "crack the back of the car," apparently to build an explanation in case the car did not pass post-race inspection. "Ejection? No, no, we're good," Pemberton said. "That was a little bit different because that was a post-event we'd already been in. "They are pretty simple panels. "There's always a potential, but we'll just wait until after Speedweeks is over with," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. We're waiting on some parts to arrive and we'll put it back together and run it through inspection again. " The No. That's an area that teams will work in. |
Saturday, 18 February 2012
NASCAR Seizes Part of Johnson's Daytona 500 Car
