Here’s a warning from NASCAR to the 10 teams competing in the Chase for the championship: We are going to be watching closer than ever and the penalties are severe, so don’t mess around.
The changes in procedure were announced just days before the Chase for the championship begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. It’ll be the first of the 10-race playoffs and NASCAR officials now have powers seemingly equal to the race namesakes.
In other words, the old adage of “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t racin’,” most famously uttered by Richard Petty, has been outdated.
The new motto should be: “If you’re cheatin’, you ain’t racin’ for the title.” NASCAR has stepped up its drive to penalize those operating outside the rules. Officials now have the authority to punish a race-winning team in the Chase, including not allowing a Chase team the automatic advancement to the next round and tiebreaker implications if it fails the post-race lug-nut check or the post-race Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform.
This isn’t the Chase of old. A LIS violation (vehicle’s rear toe measurements exceed the allowed measurements on both sides) is now a P4 level penalty and the first violation would result in the loss of 35 championship driver and owner points, in addition to a three-race suspension and $65,000 fine for the crew chief.
That’s quite different from the regular season. Lug-nut infractions were a one-race suspension for the crew chief and a fine. LIS failures resulted in a points deduction in the drivers’ and owners’ championship points and a crew chief fine.
Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, told Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com just how serious the sanctioning body was.
“The changes are made to assure that we have a level playing field and make sure that there’s not a carrot out there for the team to have excessive violations when it comes to lug nuts and the LIS post-race measurements,” Miller said. “As we worked with those penalties during the season, we realized we probably needed to have a little bit more in place as Chase time rolled around. This is really just a matter of us putting something in place so that should something happen, we have a means to effectively deal with it.”
There are four rounds in the Chase. After a three-race round, the four lowest drivers are eliminated. When the season ends Nov. 20 in Homestead-Miami Speedway, only four drivers will battle for the title.
Defending champion Kyle Busch, winner of four races in the regular season, is ready.
“I feel like we kind of are right even with where we were last year — kind of doing the same things — but there are other guys who are better than us, so we’re just going to have to figure out how to outrace them and outfinish them when we need to,” Busch said. “Something can happen to you and take you out of a round. That’s why you’ve got to be careful and try to again minimize your bad days and make it forward.”
K&N West tightens
Two races remain on the K&N Pro Series West schedule, which guarantees an exciting duel for the championship between at least nine drivers separated by 105 points. Noah Gragson swept the doubleheader last weekend at the Utah Motorsports Campus to tighten the race.
Former Chino Hills resident Todd Gilliland, now living with his folks in Sherrill Ford, N.C., leads the points with 511. Rancho Cucamonga’s Ryan Partridge is next with 498. Thanks to his victories, Gragson is third at 974, pulling away slightly from Gracin Raz and Riley Herbst in fourth and fifth.
Gragson averaged 69.681 mph in winning the first race by 1.086 seconds over Gilliland, with Raz placing third. In the second race, Gragson used the bump-and-run tactic on the final lap to get the lead from Gilliland and win by 3.809 seconds. Partridge was third, followed by Herbst and Todd Souza.
Partridge won the pole for both events.
The series will return to action Sept. 24 at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway.
Pit stops
• Penske Racing teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power will settles the Verizon IndyCar Series championship Sunday at Sonoma in a double-point season finale. Pagenaud leads with 555 points, 43 ahead of Power (512). The race is set for 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN.
• There’s a unique doubleheader this weekend at Auto Club Speedway, with NCMA West Street Car Nationals on the Auto Club Dragway and the Hotchkis Cup Auto-X for road-racing fans. Drag racing will feature the Pro Mod, Limited Street, Top Sportsman, Outlaw 8.5, Lucas Oil N/A 10.5 and MMR Mustang Madness in addition to True Street, where all street-legal rides are welcome. Since the autocross competition was added, thousands of fans have enjoyed racing, watching and riding along on an autocross course.
• So Cal Oval Karters are back in action at Wheel2Wheel Raceway on the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville after a month off. The three divisions of Speedway Sprints and Dirt Karts will also be in action. Gates open at 5 p.m., with racing at 6.
• Trevor Huddleston, 20, won his second consecutive Late Model championship in the final race of the class Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway. On the same night, Darren Amidon claimed his third consecutive Legend Cars title. Nick Joanides won his ninth 2016 late model feature, and career No. 51 at the half-mile track. The win tied Ryan Partridge for second on the all-time Irwindale win list.
• James Heling of San Bernardino is atop California Lightning Sprint Car Series going into Saturday night’s action at Bakersfield Speedway, joining Modifieds, Sportmods, IMCA Stock Cars and Mini Stocks. Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing begins at 7. Heling took over first at the last race at Ventura Raceway, with a 12-point lead over Pat Kelley of Chino. Upland’s Alex Grigoreas is third, but is out for Saturday night. Bobby Michnowicz of Lomita, who has won three out of the past five CLS races, is fourth, 40 points behind Heling.
• The Lucas Oil Modified to fast Kern County Raceway Park, but this time its for points. It’s the eighth of 10 races in the series and Matthews Hicks is in the points lead by 10 over Scott Winters. They arethreatening to run away from Taylor Minch (-25), Colton’s Lonnie White (-29) and Kyle Tellstrom (-34).
• Today is the final deadline to renew tickets at Auto Club Speedway for the 2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 400 on March 28. Public sale for the 20th anniversary race will begin Oct. 20. Fans who renew will become Hard Card Club members and receive a commemorative gift. More info at www.autoclubspeedway.com/renewals or by calling 800-944-7223.
• Matt Tifft will return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series action today in Chicago for the first time since undergoing brain surgery in June for removal of a low-grade glioma tumor in the brain. His last race was May 21 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he finished a season-best fifth. He’ll drive the No. 11 Toyota Tundra for Red Horse Racing.
• Chip Ganassi Racing will resemble a trucking company this weekend as his cars will compete in six series throughout the country. In all, 14 cars and 18 drivers in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the World Endurance Championship, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar and Global Rally Cross. The racing locales are: Chicago for both NASCAR races; Sonoma (IndyCar); Seattle (Global Rally Cross) and Austin, Tex., (WeatherTech Championship and WEC).
