Dale Earnhardt Inc. officials are bracing for their penalty for presenting a car for Martin Truex Jr. that did not meet the roofline template during opening-day inspection at Daytona International Speedway.
Truex’s penalty is expected to be announced.
Truex is 14th in the driver standings, just 88 points out of 12th, with eight races remaining until the 12-driver field is set for the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup to determine the 2008 champion.
If NASCAR follows its recent penalty trend for template violations, it would dock Truex Jr. 100 or 150 points and suspend at least the crew chief, as well as possibly the car chief for six weeks.
NASCAR issued its harshest penalties when it docked the Haas CNC Racing teams 150 points and suspended both the crew chief and car chief when it confiscated the organization’s cars for an infraction at Charlotte.
When asked if the DEI infraction was in the same category as that of Haas CNC Racing, however, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said, “I wouldn’t say that.”
“The 66 and the 70 [of Haas CNC] had devices on the car that gave the team the ability to change the car [after inspection],” Darby said. “The 1 car [of DEI] is much simpler than that. It was just built to where it didn’t fit the templates.”
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