Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Josef Newgarden won what could have been a Texas revival. Romain Grosjean's two finishes this season do not match how well he has been driving. Will Power signed a contract extension through at least 2025. Supercross had a weekend off. MotoGP had a wet race with only 17 starters, as the sprint race took out another competitor. Formula One looked like fools trying to end a race, and that is saying something considering what NASCAR did last week. Haas had its protest rejected. Carlos Sainz, Jr. was not happy. The NASCAR Cup championship lead changed hands on a Wednesday, and that leads to what is on my mind.
Drivers and Teams
The reason the NASCAR Cup championship lead changed on a Wednesday was because Alex Bowman, along with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron, received back the 100 points they were docked after NASCAR punished all four Hendrick entries when it was found they manipulated louvers prior to practice at Phoenix. The drivers also received back ten playoff points that had been deducted.
Along with the drivers' penalties, all four entrants lost 100 owners' points while all four crew chiefs were suspended for four races and Hendrick Motorsports was fined $400,000.
Hendrick Motorsports stated in the aftermath it did not manipulate the louvers for a performance gain, but because the pieces the team received from the single source provided would not fit in the cars. Instead of showing up to Phoenix with parts that did not fit, Hendrick modified the pieces to fit the cars. Kaulig Racing's #31 entry for Justin Haley also received the same penalty for the exact same offense at Phoenix.
On Wednesday, Hendrick's appeal was heard on the penalties, and while the appeals panel agreed Hendrick broke the rules, it rescinded the points penalties to the drivers and teams, but the suspensions and fines remain. Kaulig Racing's appeal will be heard later this week.
This decision caused quite an uproar in NASCAR circles, especially among the teams. It has caused many to question the power of NASCAR officials and the penalties issued. Many fear it will become the wild west in the garage area after this decision.
The rulebook does make this a black-and-white offense, with a clear punishment spelled out if a team is found in violation. Hendrick Motorsports went from having three of its drivers and four of its teams carrying a hefty weight throughout potentially the entire season, including the playoffs, to basically having nothing happen at all.
A suspension is a setback, but the crew chiefs have already been gone for two races, and $400,000 isn't a small chunk of change, but the team has a chance to make it all back and then some with a championship, and the team's championship hopes increased exponentially now that these points have been reinstated.
However, there is an argument that NASCAR's original penalty went too far to begin with. Putting aside the improper parts being given to the team in the first place, the drivers didn't do anything wrong in this case. These altered parts were found before any of the cars took to the racetrack. Why should the drivers be penalized for something the team did?
The argument would be that NASCAR is a team sport and the drivers are a part of the team. If one gets a penalty the other should get a penalty. But what is the point of the owner's championship then?
NASCAR has two championships. Basically every series does. There is one for the drivers and one for the teams. If both are going to be treated the same way and always receive the same penalties then there should just be one championship. There isn't a need for the other. This is a situation where one sweeping penalty should not be handed down for each of the two championships.
The Hendrick drivers didn't manipulate the louvers themselves in the shop prior to heading out to Phoenix. The drivers didn't install them in the race car. The drivers didn't even drive with the improper louvers in any session. In no way is this infraction on the drivers nor did the drivers benefit from this. This should have always been a penalty only to the teams from the start, though still a questionable penalty as, again, the team received a faulty part from the supplier to start with. If the team had received proper pieces at the start then we likely aren't having this drag out for over two weeks.
In the same penalty report where Hendrick Motorsports was issued its reprimands, Denny Hamlin was also punished for causing an accident with Ross Chastain in final laps at Phoenix. Hamlin lost 25 points and was fined $50,000 for the incident. Hamlin has appealed the penalty, but Hamlin was the only one to lose points or money. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing entry didn't lose 25 points. Team owner Joe Gibbs was not fined. The penalty fell entirely on the driver for the driver's actions.
If a team can avoid punishment if only the driver is guilty then the same should be true for the drivers if the infraction is on the team.
This isn't a case of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers ran in the race with the illegal part and it was found afterward. In that case, everyone losing something would make sense, but the drivers never benefitted from this. None of them likely knew the parts were on the car. Penalizing the Hendrick drivers was always excessive and unnecessary.
Common sense is a good thing. It is ok to treat two separate championships as two separate championships. That is why they exist. They measure two different things. The drivers' championship can take into consideration what the driver does. If the driver is being reckless that can cause a driver to be penalized, but if the team isn't encouraging him or instructing him to be reckless then the penalty should only go to the driver. That punishment should affect the drivers' championship, but the team can be left out of it. If a team is found to have violated the rules, such as having a car fail the initial inspection, that is something that is only on the team. Drivers aren't working on the cars. They aren't in the shop piecing them together. The team can take its medicine while the driver gets away scot-free.
There will be times when both parties benefitted from an infraction or knew they broke a rule. In those cases, it will make sense for both to be penalized, but not every case is like that. We should see more times when one side or the other is getting a penalty and the other isn't.
Will this Hendrick situation force NASCAR moving forward to take into greater consideration who it issues penalties to? Will we see a reformed and more nuance approach when it comes to punishment? Probably not. It is NASCAR, after all, but it is a something that should be considered moving forward.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Josef Newgarden, but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Dennis Hauger (sprint) and Ayuma Iwasa (feature) split the Formula Two races from Melbourne. Zak O'Sullivan and Gabriel Bortoleto split Formula Three races. O'Sullivan was awarded the vicotry in race one after Franco Colapinto's car failed post-race inspection.
Shane Van Gisbergen (race one), Brodie Kostecki (races two and three) and Broc Feeney (race four) split the Supercars races from Melbourne.
Marco Bezzecchi won MotoGP's Argentine Grand Prix, his first career MotoGP victory. Brad Binder won the sprint race. Tony Arbolino won the Moto2 race. Tatsuki Suzuki won the Moto3 race, his first victory since the 2020 Andalusian Grand Prix.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Richmond. Chandler Smith won the Grand National Series race, his first career Grand National Series victory. Carson Hocevar won the Truck race from Texas, his first career Truck victory.
The #28 RS1 Porsche of Eric Filgueiras and Steven McAleer and the #04 CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes-AMG of Colin Braun and George Kurtz split the GT World Challenge America races from Sonoma. Memo Gidley and Anthony Bartone split the GT America races. The #47 NOLASport Porsche of Matt Travis and Jason Hart and the #20 Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota of Nicholas Shanny and Terry Borchella split the GT4 America races.
Coming Up This Weekend
Super Formula begins its season with a doubleheader at Fuji.
NASCAR has its dirt race at Bristol.
Supercross returns from a week off and will be in Glendale, Arizona.
