NASCAR lives up to its word, deals severely with infractions

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 100 points and his crew chief received a fine and suspension.
SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
NASCAR wasn't kidding around when it posted a memo to Nextel Cup teams at the first Car of Tomorrow race at Bristol in March.
The sanctioning body promised to deal severely with infractions found on the COT, and in NASCAR's treatment of the No. 8 Chevrolet team of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the organization lived up to its word.
Tuesday, NASCAR fined No. 8 crew chief Tony Eury Jr. 100,000 and suspended him until July 4 for an infraction discovered Saturday night during prerace inspection for the Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington. The rear wing of the No. 8 Chevy was mounted improperly with brackets that did not meet NASCAR specifications.
The suspension means Eury will miss Saturday's NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge and the following six Nextel Cup points races. He will be eligible to return to competition for the July 7 Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Eury also was placed on probation until Dec. 31, 2007.
In addition to the fine and suspension, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 100 championship points -- which will drop him from 12th to 14th in the points standings -- and the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. team owned by Teresa Earnhardt was penalized 100 owner points.
NASCAR confiscated the nonconforming brackets.
Very tough ruling
Despite the Bristol memo, DEI's vice president of competition, Richie Gilmore, was surprised by the harshness of NASCAR's ruling.
"We don't have a problem with the ruling, because it's clearly stated in the rulebook," Gilmore said. "But we have a problem with the severity of the penalty."
In other action taken Tuesday, NASCAR levied a 10,000 fine and a two-race suspension on Trip Bruce, crew chief for the No. 23 Toyota driven in the Craftsman Truck Series by Johnny Benson, for allowing a non-NASCAR-licensed driver, Mike Lichty, to drive Benson's truck during testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Benson was docked 50 driver points and Gail Davis 50 owner points for the infraction, which occurred May 10.