UPDATE: Stewart-Haas Racing has now withdrawn their appeal for the penalty assessed against Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team.
Rodney Childers will be eligible to return to the pit box in the season-finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 team was levied massive penalties following their car’s trip to the NASCAR R&D Center after last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR determined that the team had made alterations to a single source-supplied part pertaining to the body of the car, more specifically altering the aerodynamics of the car.
Kevin Harvick was docked 100 driver points, the team was docked 100 owner points, and crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 and suspended for four NASCAR Cup Series events.
On Friday, the team opted to file an appeal.
While Childers will remain out for this weekend’s race, so he can be on the pit box at Phoenix regardless of how the appeal goes, the team will look to continue the recent trend of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel overturning or lessening the penalties handed out by the sanctioning body.
On Thursday, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel heard the appeal for William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, which was docked 25 points and fined $50,000 for Byron retaliating on championship rival Denny Hamlin under caution at Texas Motor Speedway.
At the end of the appeal, Byron, who had fallen below the cutline in the Playoff Grid with the penalty, was back afloat in his pursuit of the Round of 8. The Appeals Panel rescinded the 25-point penalty. However, the panel did double the original monetary fine, which brought the fine to a total of $100,000.
Back in September, Jeremy Clements Racing saw their penalty for an illegal engine in their win at Daytona International Speedway get overturned by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
While the odds don’t suggest that we will see three-consecutive alterations of penalties from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, the No. 4 team will certainly make their case.
