Do some of you people claiming Hendrick Motorsports "cheated" even know what happened?

Question

Alright, let's get a few things straight here. The area that NASCAR didn't like on the 24 and 48 cars is NOT covered in the rule book, yet. With this being the first year for the COT these things will happen. Second, a road course is not the type of track where you will get an advantage from modifying the front end for more downforce. You do not reach the speeds that would give you a noticeable difference one way or another. Jeff and Jimmie have won the most races over the last 5 years because they are great drivers and they have crew chiefs that are not afraid to try new ideas. Sometimes it doesn't work out but at least they are trying and NOT waiting around for someone else to beat them to the punch. Say what you will but this was not as big of an infraction as many of the other violations that ARE in the rule book. I expect there will be more to their penalty but it should not be too severe. Your thoughts.

Admiral: The angle of the rear wing is black and white IN the rule book. They MODIFIED the mounting brackets to change the angle of the wing. That is a totally different deal than what happened with the 24 and 48 cars.

I do realize that downforce is good at a road course. However, the speeds they are going in the corners, where more downforce would be beneficial, are such that they would not benefit hardly at all from tweaking the front end. I do suspect they were seeing if they could get away with it now to get an advantage down the road. Don't get me wrong, I know they were pushing things too far. It's just a matter of how this ranks compared to other violations this season.

Answer 1

NASCAR regulates what you can/cannot adjust/change on the cars... The rulebook states that If something isn't mention or is not covered, you should assume you CANNOT do it...

So yes they did break the rules! If they didn't get caught it might not have been very helpful to them this race, but it sure as heck would have been helpful at future ones...

I've always said HMS has the best development and testing of any team, but you have to change things within the areas NASCAR decides... Go outside of those areas and you ARE CHEATING

Answer 2

Admittedly the infraction here is relatively minor. But it is covered in the rules...it did not fit the template. Have you read the rules? And with how good the Hendrick teams are, you can't tell me it was an oversight. Junior got docked major points for a minor "oversight", you can't tell me his unapproved mounts gave him that big of an advantage. Kenseth and the Dodge boys got docked for not covering a hole for qualifying that is allowed for the race. If they are going to crack down on minor infractions, it needs to be done evenly across the teams.

When you say the added downforce doesn't matter on a road course as much, in reality it matters MORE because of the quantity and variability of the turns. You are still going 100+ mph and a small increase in downforce provides a small advantage. Stick your arm out the car window going 100 mph and then tell me if there is an effect from wind resistance. When teams adjust air pressure in their tires by half a pound, even the tiniest adjustments can make a difference.

The Hendrick teams are good teams, no question about it. But they are not above cheating as was proven by the Knaus suspension last year. If NASCAR is going to crack down on some teams, then they need to do it to everyone.

I think a 50 point penalty and/or a few race suspension for the crew chiefs is in line with previous penalties issued this year. At least they didn't use rocket fuel!

Answer 3

No solid answer for we as the general racefans do not and will not know what is "cheating".
But in the past 10 years there have been multipal "irregularities" this goes back to the days when Geoff Bodine drove for Hendricks.
Suspentions do no good.Fines do no good.The "streching"f the so called "grey" areas is out of controll.It is now that partity must come into play an NASCAR act.The fact that irregularities were found with 2 cars from the same team from the same shop yet none of the other cars from the same manufacturer or team had the same problem.Even Juniors "wing brackett" was a grey area but look what happened.
Honest mistake?
Careless mistake?
Or intentional Fudging of the grey area?
Don't matter.The time has come to stop it find the "problem" suspend the team from the race.Sorry but it needs to be done.Pack them up and send them back to Charlotte.
This question is a good one for debate and has as many answers as the "gay" questions.So every answer that supports Hendricks is right and wrong,according to who your a fan of.Same with the Questions against Hendricks.
NASCAR will announce on Tuesday and we shall see the out come.
Until then let the green flag fall.

Answer 4

Ya unfortunatly this situation will fall like most things involving Jeff or Jimmy.The people who dislike them will say they cheated no matter what Nascar finally says about the situation.People who are fans will take a more wait and see attitude and allow the process to unfold.I find it hard to believe they were trying to get over on Nascar,Im sure they were doing (esp. Chad) what theyve aways done and thats push the envelope.Wouldnt be the first time something wasnt covered by the rules and only retro-activley applied.I'm hating this tho,the last thing either the #24 or #48 needed was any controversy.They are having great seasons and I hate to give the haters ammo.But like I said yesterday Chad will probably convince Nascar its the other 41 cars that arent in complience.lol.

Answer 5

I'm not a fan of HMS or 24 & 48, let's get this straight. Jeffy and Jimmy are NOT theones pulling these shenanigans, it's the dumb@zz crew chiefs that think they can outsmart NASCAR (and they tried it for a road course? ). The days of Smoky Yunich are loooong gone.
ALL teams were told LAST YEAR no messing around with the COT . Penalties would be severe.

Answer 6

First, a road course is a track where downforce is critical.

Second, this is straight from Hendrick Motorsports:

Q: IF IT'S REALLY AN AREA THAT THE TEMPLATE DOESN'T GO OVER, THEN HOW COULD IT MEASURE?

Doug Duchardt: "When NASCAR sent templates, they also sent data that defined the car in it's entirety, from the front to the back. So what they're saying is that we don't fit that data. And you probably have to ask NASCAR more specifically but what we're understanding is we have to fit that data at all times. That is what controls us, is the data that NASCAR sent out, that defines the three-dimensional version of our Impala."

So yes, it was outside of NASCAr's boundaries.

Answer 7

The Hendrick teams were pretty smart in trying to pull this one. What surprises me is that they didn't pull any dumb excuses, such as "a slight overlook", etc. The Hendrick teams were straightforward in defending themselves in their actions.

NASCAR has finally decided to not be "wishy-washy " on rules. This is a good sign. Jeff and Jimmie have to start from the back after missing 1st practice and qualifying.

I'm assuming that fans won't complain when Gordon wins the race on Sunday, since he will be working a lot for track position. Maybe they'll finally understand how good of a driver Jeff Gordon is.......

Answer 8

I know what happened, I still think the #24 team and #48 team was trying to pull something. They tried to get more downforce than everybody else, but in the process had to do something to the car they should not have done. So in a sence, they did cheat, and in another sence, no, they did not. It just depends on if you look at them as good guys or bad guys. Keep in mind both teams have been caught cheating more often than other teams.

Answer 9

If its not covered in the rule book then why were the cars parked? It doesn't matter what kind of race it is you can't do anything to make your car different!!!!!! All cars need to be the same. Just because this is a road course does not give the Hendrick team any right to change anything to get more down force or whatever they thought would happen.

Face it..... They've cheated in the past, and they tried to cheat here, but FINALLY got caught. I think Nascar is on to them!

Answer 10

You hit the nail right on the head. Enough said, they won't stop whining though, because there is not enough common sense in them to rationalize the whole situation. You would think you wouldn't want to look like and idiot without knowing anything about what your whining about? Guess not. You take chances to get ahead in life and everything, or your doing nothing. Just doesn't always work out.