Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/OnPitRoad.com
Issues continue to plague tech in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Saturday at ISM Raceway, the No. 78 car of defending series champion and playoff contender, Martin Truex Jr, failed tech three times before finally clearing tech on the fourth try.
As a result of the failures, per the NASCAR rule book, Blake Harris, the car chief for the team was ejected for the remainder of the race weekend. Truex will also lose 30 minutes of final practice time.
The Furniture Row Racing team announced recently that it will cease operations at the end of the 2018 season due to the inability to find funding for the team. Truex and crew chief, Cole Pearn, will move to the No. 19 car owned by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019.
How can Truex fail inspection three times and Harvick pass last week and then found to have a spoiler misaligned? Additionally the spoiler was not even an approved piece of equipment. The monetary penalty is a joke. Fining a multimillion dollar team $75,000 is even a bigger joke. Since NASCAR decided he could keep the win (due to Vegas betting etc.) monies should have been divided from the 2nd to 3rd place legal finishers and Harvick placed last. There was no gray area in the 4 team cheating. At the next race he should have been penalized to start in the back of the pack and made to do at least 2 pass through the pits. Fining a team money does not get the point across. The number 4 team cheated the fans as well as the other competitors. NASCAR needs to go back to the roots of Saturday night racing and police it accordingly.