Penske Appeal To Be Heard May 1

Roger Penske

The National Stock Car Racing Commission will hear an appeal filed by Penske Racing on Wednesday, May 1.

The three-member panel will hear testimony surrounding the fines and suspensions assessed by NASCAR for technical violations found on the cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in pre-race inspection at Texas Motor Speedway April 13. The sanctioning body docked both drivers 25 championship points, assessed $100,000 fines and six-race suspensions to crew chiefs Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon and suspended car chiefs Jerry Kelley and Raymond Fox, engineers Brian Wilson and Samuel Stanley and Penske competition director Travis Geisler for an identical six races. All seven men were placed on NASCAR probation through Dec. 31.

Those suspensions have been deferred, pending appeal.

The dispute centers on rear end housings and suspension components that allowed the rear ends to “yaw” under race conditions, improving handling and corner speed. Team owner Roger Penske called the parts, “working in a gray area” in an Associated Press interview last week, adding, “we've got very creative minds and it takes a lot of creative minds to be competitive.”

The three-member panel will hear testimony and consider evidence submitted by both Penske Racing and NASCAR at 9 a.m. next Wednesday at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.  If the sanctions are upheld, Penske could exercise a final appeal to NASCAR’s Chief Appellate Officer, John Middlebrook.