Will Hendrick Motorsports appeal against NASCAR’s penalties for numbers 24 and 48?

Hendrick Motorsports will not be appealing the penalties levied on their teams over violations discovered following last Sunday's race at Richmond Raceway. The #24 crew of William Byron and #48 crew of Alex Bowman were handed L1-level penalties by NASCAR for modifications to their cars, as revealed upon inspection.

The #24 and #48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s were found to have breached NASCAR's rules surrounding the glasshouse of the cars. This incurred a penalty of 60 points and five playoff points. In addition to the points deductions, a $75,000 fine and crew chief suspensions were also handed to both teams.

In a statement on Monday, Hendrick Motorsports said:

“Because we will be best served by devoting our time and resources to competing each weekend, our team will not pursue an appeal of the penalties issued on April 6. The area of the race cars NASCAR focused on is not related to our performance on the track.”

The L1-level penalty aimed at Hendrick Motorsports is the second infraction by the team in the span of two consecutive weeks. Some experts speculate that the reason for the penalties is due to the previous L2-level penalty being overturned to some extent by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.

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Which sections of the NASCAR rule book did Hendrick Motorsports voilate?

The L1-level penalties levied by NASCAR on Hendrick Motorsports on April 6, 2023 were cited to be on the grounds of altered greenhouses in two of its entries. The #24 and #48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s of William Byron and Alex Bowman were taken to the NASCAR R&D Center post the Richmond Raceway weekend, where discrepancies were found with the said racecars.

NASCAR released sections of the rule book voilated by the teams, which are:

Section 14.1.D: Except in cases explicitly permitted in the NASCAR Rules, installation of additional components, repairs, deletions, and/or modifications to Next Gen Single Source Vendor-supplied parts and/or assemblies will not be permitted.

Section 14.1.2.B: All parts and assemblies must comply with the NASCAR Engineering Change Log.

Section 14.5.6.B: The greenhouse may be modified to accommodate a windshield wiper motor where required; these modifications will be permitted for all racetracks. The greenhouse modification must conform to the following drawing.

NASCAR heads to Martinsville Speedway next Sunday for the final race of the 2023 short track swing.