NASCAR: NASCAR suspends three crew chiefs for Las Vegas infractions

NASCAR on Tuesday suspended the crew chiefs for Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick in a swift crackdown on cheating committed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Todd Berrier was suspended for four weeks and fined $25,000 for rigging Harvick's fuel tank to appear full when it actually wasn't during qualifying.

Chad Knaus was suspended for two weeks and fined $35,000 when Johnson's race-winning car failed to meet the minimum height requirement in Sunday's post-race inspection.

Alan Gustafson was suspended two weeks and fined $25,000 because Busch's runner-up car was too high in the post-race inspection.

In addition to the suspensions, the drivers were also docked 25 points. Rick Hendrick, the car owner for Johnson and Busch, was docked 50 points -- 25 for each infraction. Richard Childress, the car owner for Harvick, was docked 25 points.

Berrier's suspension was severe because he admitted to intentionally rigging the 22-gallon tank to appear full when it had just five gallons of gas in it - thereby allowing the car to go faster. The team was caught because Harvick qualified fourth. If he had been outside of the top five, his car might not have been checked over following his run.

"If I had to do it again, I'd still play it to try to get away with it, because I know how I got caught,'" Berrier told NASCAR.com.

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Nice comment there by Berrier, really showed alot of remorse. :smug:

If I were NASCAR, I'd inspect the heck out of Harvick's car every chance i got after those idiotic comments.

Cheating in sports seems to have become the norm.

there is a long and proud tradition of cheating in nascar, one driver once ran a race with his roll cage full of gas so that he could skip a pit stop, looks like nascar is out to end the "liberal interpretation of the rules" the severity of these penalties should raise a few eyebrows in the nascar garage....

The penalty knocked Jimmie Johnson right out of the points lead.

He claims that the hood actually hindered him and that it occured during the race.

Is NASCAR trying to send a message??

i'm sure tha they are, this is the era of the politicaly correct nascar, in the past nascar cheaters were tolerated with a wink and a nod, everyone knew who was cheating and the crew chiefs were able to stay a couple of steps ahead of the officials, with the millions of dollars on the line today and decisions being made in corporate boardrooms nascar and it's drivers and teams need to toe the line, these penalties send a clear message that cheating will no longer be the norm in nascar