Lessons learned: Appeals are tough to win

NASCAR prevailed in two appeals of the penalty issued to Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyle Larson as both a three-member appeals panel and the final appeals officer ruled Friday against the team.

The team wouldn’t comment on losing the appeals Saturday, but NASCAR Cup series director Richard Buck spoke prior to Cup practice at Kansas Speedway about the penalty for a violation of the damaged vehicle policy at Talladega Superspeedway. The Ganassi team used metal tabs to attach the front fender of the car, and NASCAR’s rule is the original parts must be reattached with fasteners or tape.

Here are 10 things we learned — or at least were reminded of — about the penalty in this situation as Larson starts Sunday’s race with 10 fewer points than he began.

1. Appeals are tough to win: No appeal on the Cup side has been won in more than three years. In 2015, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Circle Sport Racing had penalties reversed or reduced on appeal. The last five appeals have been denied.

2. If official misses on pit road, not an excuse: Some would say if Ganassi put the illegal part on the car during a pit stop and an official possibly has seen it (or even if it didn’t see it), that NASCAR theoretically has approved the part or the piece if it doesn’t call an immediate penalty. Obviously the penalties were upheld even though the piece was added during the race.

3. Official would advise team: Buck said if an official saw an illegal part being put on the car, the official would have told the team not to do it and the team would have to try to make the fix the proper way under the policy. It would not be an immediate parking of the team. Buck: “Our officials are challenged with multiple tasks on pit road. It’s a very dynamic situation out there. If they do see something, they will try to help the teams out, try to inform the teams. But understand we are not like other sports – we can’t call a time out.”

4. Part not required: Larson could have theoretically finished the race without the front right fender. Larson had met minimum speed, so he didn’t need it. And he was no longer under the six-minute clock, so the team could have taken as much time as needed to make the fix of straightening the front fender it had cut off and reattaching it. Whether he could have run as well without that piece is a different question.

5. NASCAR process slow or pragmatic, depending on view: According to Buck, a NASCAR official saw the illegal piece in postrace inspection. Instead of issuing the penalty then, NASCAR took the piece back to its research center as part of its process and didn’t issue a penalty until Wednesday morning. Buck: “We won’t make a decision on that immediately at the race track. We’ll take it back to the R&D center and do the research on it. … It’s always our effort to try to get through the process as quickly as we can. There are a lot of moving parts and we want to get it right.”

6. A definition of fasteners: The rule states that a team can only use fasteners or tape (bear bond is a type of tape) to reattach a piece or panel. Buck: “Fasteners … are screws or rivets. We don’t allow any other brackets or panels or flanges or any of that type of stuff.”

7. Rule is primarily cost-saving rule: The teams helped write this rule to keep them from having to bring crash carts and an excessive amount of spare parts and pieces to the race. Plus a wreck can damage the integrity of the car, not to mention crew members working under a car exposes them to hot fluids and ragged edges. Buck: “They had frame-straightening machines, they had subframes, they had welders, they had saws, all this equipment and material and guys that were trained and extra people coming to the race track. … It was an effort to contain the cost, keep it reasonable and for safety — a repaired race car that’s repaired very, very quickly in the garage area is not always as safe as the one you bring to the race track.”

8. Appeals can be done quickly: Two appeals in one day? The ability to hear appeals with teleconferencing and videoconferencing shows that NASCAR can speed up the process that sometimes takes weeks when playoff positions aren’t involved.

9. Car chief is important: Could Ganassi have done the appeals just to have its car chief at the track for Friday, a key day during the race weekend? Possibly. The car chief will only miss Saturday and Sunday this weekend instead of all three days.

10. Penalty not only cause of Larson woes: The penalty had nothing to do with Larson wrecking in first practice Friday. So he put himself in an even more precarious position to advance to the next round as he will start at the rear of the field in a backup car.