The Hendrick Motorsports team is poised to dominate the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series both on the track and in an appeal hearing. Kyle Larson secured his first victory of the season and the third win of the year for Hendrick at the Richmond race on Sunday. This triumph occurred just four days after the team convinced an appeals panel to remove the massive points penalties and fines that NASCAR had imposed on them for using improper parts at the Phoenix race in March.
Larson downplayed the significance of his victory, stating that the team’s car had been consistently fast throughout the season despite the penalties. He believes they will have plenty of opportunities to win more races in the future. Larson had to overcome damage to his right front bumper caused by contact with Daniel Suarez on pit road during the final stage of the race. However, he was able to recover and lead 93 laps, finishing ahead of his teammate Josh Berry in his best performance as a substitute driver for the injured Chase Elliott.
Although William Byron is the only driver in 2023 with multiple wins, his 117-lap lead and subsequent 24th place finish at the Richmond race have placed him fourth in the standings. Larson is now tied for sixth, whereas he would be tied for 21st had the points penalty stayed in place. NASCAR had imposed 100-point penalties and $100,000 fines on each of Hendrick’s four cars, suspended the team’s four crew chiefs for four races, and docked each Hendrick car 10 playoff points after deeming the louvers on the hoods of the team’s cars improper ahead of the Phoenix race.
Hendrick immediately appealed NASCAR’s decision, arguing that the louvers they were getting from the NASCAR-approved supplier weren’t all identical, although Cup Series cars have been constructed mainly from parts from single-source suppliers since 2022. While the appeals panel upheld the four-race suspensions and $400,000 in fines for each of Hendrick’s four crew chiefs, they removed the 100-point penalties for each team and the 10-point playoff penalties. The outcome was not precisely what Hendrick had hoped for, but the removal of the penalties was more than satisfactory.
Jeff Gordon, a spokesperson for Hendrick, expressed his frustration with the process, stating that there was enough communication to justify why they showed up to the Phoenix race the way they did. NASCAR, on the other hand, issued a statement after the ruling, stating that it was happy the panel agreed that Hendrick had violated NASCAR rules, though it disagreed with the rescinding of the points penalties.
The ruling caused confusion in the garage and raised questions about NASCAR’s rulebook verbiage. It also demonstrated that Hendrick had figured out how to appeal a NASCAR penalty successfully, raising concerns about how the sanctioning body can effectively penalize rules violations if its points penalties are overturned.
The new Cup car introduced last season resulted in 19 different winners as teams experimented with building and adjusting the cars. With a whole offseason of development and research time, Chevrolet teams have won five of the first seven races of the season, with the three Hendrick drivers who have participated in all seven races all ranking in the top six of the points standings. The outcome of the appeal re-energized Hendrick’s team and served as a morale boost ahead of the upcoming races.
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NASCAR, Racing, Hendrick Motosports, Sport, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Richmond Raceway, Nascar Cup Series
