NASCAR: Hendrick Motorsports announce interim crew chiefs

NASCAR penalized the four crew chiefs of Hendrick Motorsports for alleged unauthorized part modifications on Wednesday (March 15). They were suspended for four races and also received a $100,000 fine each. The team has now announced interim crew chiefs for all four entries for the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kevin Meendering will work with Kyle Larson leading the #5 crew and Greg Ives will lead Alex Bowman's #48 crew. Brian Campe will work with the #24 crew of William Byron, and Tom Gray will work with substitute driver Josh Berry driving the #9 car.

All interim crew chiefs have an engineering background, working within the team. Ives has previously worked with Bowman as crew chief and Meendering works as a competition development manager. Campe is the team's technical director and Gray works as an engineer within the team.

Hendrick Motorsports released a statement appealing the penalties. However, the team has strategically chosen not to defer the suspensions of crew chiefs Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, and Blake Harris. If the appeal is successful or the penalties are reduced, then the original crew chiefs might return at the next race weekend at COTA.

The Crew Chief of the #31 car driven by Justin Haley was also suspended by NASCAR and penalized with the same penalties. The team hasn't announced any substitute yet.

The penalties issued to Hendrick Motorsports were one of the biggest combined penalties in NASCAR's history. All four entries from the North Carolina team and #31 team were docked 100 driver points, 100 owner points, and 10 playoff points, and crew chiefs were suspended for four races. They also received a fine of $100,000 each.

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Why was NASCAR harsh with the penalties?

NASCAR penalized the teams for modifying the hood louvers, a part of the car many don't give much attention to. However, the sanctioning body revealed that the penalties were announced as modifying the single-source vendor parts was not permitted without prior permission.

NASCAR has increased the penalties for any modifications without prior approval. According to rules from the governing body, the teams were assessed with an L2-level penalty.

Elton Sawyer, Senior Vice President of Competition, spoke to the media via a Zoom call. He admitted that NASCAR works with the teams to allow modifications for fitting and safety purposes.

Speaking about the modification of parts by teams, he admitted:

"This one rose to a level that was way beyond that."

He then spoke about the penalties, saying:

"It was obvious to us that these parts had been modified in an area that wasn't approved. This is a consistent penalty with what we went through last year with other competitors. ... We were put in a position that we didn’t feel like there was no other way but to write a penalty."

Hendrick Motorsports has appealed against the penalties issued, stating that the team was disappointed and argued their case based on various facts.