What are louvers and how do they benefit NASCAR cars?

The past week in the world of stock car racing has seen NASCAR hand the biggest collective penalty in the history of the sport to Hendrick Motorsports' drivers, as well as the #31 crew at Kaulig Motorsports. The governing body believed the two teams had altered their hood louvers on the #31 car driven by Justin Haley, as well as all four cars from Rick Hendrick's organization.

The louvers in question are supplier-sourced parts handed to the teams by NASCAR themselves, with further instructions not to modify them in any shape or form. During practice at Phoenix Raceway last weekend, samples were collected off the aforementioned cars, with L2 level penalties following during the week.

The louvers, referred to as hood vents occasionally as well, are vents on top of the hood of the Next Gen Cup Series car which helps extract hot air from the car's front mounted radiators.

When cool air is sucked into the frontal opening on the car's facia, it goes through the radiator and out of these louvers, over the roof of the car. Any alterations to the design of the said louvers could possibly lead to aerodynamic advantages.

With NASCAR having found discrepancies in the confiscated parts of the aforementioned teams, L2 level penalties were levied on the crew chiefs, forcing them to be suspended for 4 weekends, along with a deduction of 100 regular season points and 10 playoff points for the drivers. A $100,000 fine is to also be served by each team.

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NASCAR teams set to appeal received penalties regarding hood louvers

Both Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing have made it clear that the teams believe no wrongdoing has taken place on their behalf and their intentions to appeal the penalties levied on them by NASCAR. The louvers in question, which are supplier-sourced parts, are claimed to have discrepencies in design, according to the teams.

Kaulig Racing's recent press release also stated the error on the governing body's part, with the teams receiving faulty parts from the get go. The press release also elaborated on how only one of the two louvers from the Kernersville, North Carolina-based racing outfit was confiscated, and read:

“Only one of the two louvers on the #31 car was confiscated, showing inconsistencies in the parts provided to teams from NASCAR’s single source supplier, providing no competitive advantage.”

Hendrick Motorsport also went ahead and dominated last Sunday (March 12)'s race as well without the faulty louvers, with William Byron taking the checkered flag in P1, along with the rest of the cars all finishing in the top-10.