Motorsports

Chiefs await penalty ruling

By BRANT JAMES
Published February 13, 2007

DAYTONA BEACH - Adjudication took a day off like the Nextel Cup drivers on Monday, and crew chiefs Robbie Reiser and Kenny Francis are likely to have several more in their immediate futures. NASCAR officials said an announcement of penalties for post-qualifying inspection violations on Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford (Reiser) and Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Dodge (Francis) could come as late as Wednesday, when on-track activity resumes at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR director of competition Robin Pemberton said during a Sirius satellite radio interview that Reiser's and Francis' infractions put them "in the close family" of the one that got Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson, ejected from Daytona International Speedway and suspended for three subsequent races for a post-qualifying infraction last season.

Pemberton said the Kenseth and Kahne infractions could have been accidental, and "that's why we'll get together (Monday) morning and talk about it some more. But the result is what it is. We have to look at those things. We've had many penalties in the past that were along the same lines at the speedways how guys move air in and around the race car."

GRUBB UP: Darian Grubb had options. The former engineer for defending series champion Johnson sat on the pit box between Knaus and owner Rick Hendrick last season, except, of course, those four races when he had to replace Knaus.

Grubb more than held the place together, winning the Daytona 500 and two weeks later winning at Las Vegas, and adding second- and sixth-place finishes before Knaus returned. He could have jumped for a crew chief job elsewhere, especially with seven full-time Toyota teams entering this season. But Grubb stayed, and he was rewarded by being named crew chief for Casey Mears' No. 25 Chevrolet team, replacing Lance McGrew.

"I didn't want to leave Hendrick Motorsports at all," he said. "I had no interest in going anywhere else just to be a crew chief."

The change came as a surprise to Mears, who is embarking on his first season at HMS after coming over from Chip Ganassi Racing. It quickly became a pleasant one because he had been well aware of Grubb's abilities through friend and now teammate Johnson.

"We talked a lot about Darian filling in last year and how impressed he was with him and how calm his demeanor was, the way he approached situations, his attention to detail on trying to really sort out and get the feel that Jimmie wanted in the car," Mears said. "If there's anybody that could have stepped in and eased my apprehension about having a new crew chief it could have been Darian."

QUOTABLE: Tony Stewart, on what he would do to win his first Daytona 500: "I would destroy my car to win the 500 if that's what it takes on the last lap. I don't care if I slide upside down across the finish line to win. This is one of those races you'll take any chance that you have to try to win. I won't say that's my attitude toward every race, but this isn't just any race. This is the marquee event for us this year. I would do the same in the Indy 500."

THREE THINGS

Tops at Daytona

Top three active wins leaders at Daytona International Speedway:

Jeff Gordon 6

Bill Elliott 4

Dale Jarrett 4

[Last modified February 12, 2007, 23:45:44]