NASCAR Crew Chief Kicked Out of Daytona 500

I really don't understand what Chad Knaus, crew chief of Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's Chevy was thinking, but whatever it was, it's gotten him kicked out of the Daytona 500. His car will still compete, though the qualifying time was disallowed. This means that Johnson will start at the rear of his 30 car qualifying race field. If the car's good, that's not too big a problem, though if you're in the back, you have to go up through the whole mess of cars to get to the front and you have a greater chance at getting caught up in a wreck.

From NASCAR.com: According to the source, an instrument was placed inside the car that raised the rear window after it went through pre-qualifying inspection to provide an aerodynamic advantage.

The height difference was discovered during a post-qualifying inspection and considered a flagrant attempt to gain a competitive advantage.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter classified the violation as serious and said additional penalties could follow. Johnson is not expected to be penalized.

The reason I'm so mystified by this is the fact that the 48 car was already guaranteed a spot in the race due to their 2nd place points position last year. The only thing qualifying was going to do for them was give them their starting position in the qualifying races on Thursday (unless they qualified first or second, in which case they would start the race in those positions - I know, it's confusing). Putting in this little device could have helped them in the actual race...assuming it was not discovered during inspection. The inspectors missed it in the pre-qualifying inspection, but caught it afterwards.

Expect heavy fines and a continued suspension for Knaus, who's been suspended before for tinkering with the rules. That will be announced following the race.

NASCAR may be letting the team off a little easy. There have been a couple of occasions in the past when NASCAR impounded the car and refused to let them race it. Given the huge amount of money the team spends in wind tunnel testing and preparation for this race, taking away the car and forcing them to a backup would have been a huge penalty.

Also, expect the 48 car, and possibly all 5 Hendrick Motorsports cars, to get an anal exam like no other during future inspections. If you think it's not nice to fool Mother Nature, you should see what happens when you fool NASCAR.