It's been reported that in post race inspection, both the 29 & 31 cars were
found to have modified bead areas on their wheels that allowed excess air
pressure buildup to bleed off. There will be no points or monetary fines
since this is deemed a 'gray area' not specifically addressed by the rules.

I'm not so sure about that. Bleeder valves are specifically banned in NASCAR
competition. Their purpose is to manipulate the air pressure in the tire
once it has been mounted on the car. The laser cut slots in the RCR cars
wheels was designed to circumvent that rule and manipulate air pressure once
the wheel was mounted on the car. It is a definite competitive advantage.

Other attempts to circumvent various rules for competitive advantage have
resulted in monetary and point fines. Accidental violations that did not
result in competitive advantage have been fined as well. Of the latter
category, the manifold spacer that cost Mark Martin a fine, 25 points, and
arguably the championship one year was deemed to have offered no competitive
advantage. The difference was a matter of it being bolted in place rather
than welded to the manifold as required by rules. It was purely an
oversight.

Accidental violation, no competitive advantage = violation, points and
monetary fine.
Deliberate circumvention of rule, competitive advantage = pee-pee slap.

I just love consistent enforcement.............

"RobZip" <no time (AT) me (DOT) net> wrote

well i can see why there is no penalty for this, but since the article from
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5976758doesn't say specifically, are
they talking about all 4 rims for each car or one rim per car, it's pretty
vague. i wonder how they caught this, was it the old soapy water trick?

..003" is not east to pick up from the naked eye, especially if this was done
around the bead. maybe they didn't paint over where they made the cut.

this also brings up an interesting thought about why the 31 team has such
problems in the late stages of the race.


mike...........

"RobZip" <no time (AT) me (DOT) net> wrote

Yeah. I thought that the HMS pump-up shocks shoulda been ruled illegal last
year.

BTW, Martin got whacked for 46 points in '90 for the manifold. I thought it
was a BS call also.

"armpit" <armarmpitpit (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote


Agreed - if the design yields the same effect as something already
prohibited, it has a bit stronger color than gray in my mind.

Memory fades over time, I stand corrected. Martin lost the championship to
Earnhardt by 26 points that year. I got the part about changing the outcome
of the points right

http://aolsvc.sports.aol.nascar.com/races/cup/1990/data/standings_official.html

"RobZip" <no time (AT) me (DOT) net> wrote

not a good comparison. but look at it this way, now that it's over there
will be another addition to the do' and don'ts in the rule book.

mike................

JerseyMike wrote:
It certainly explains a lot about the last half dozen races.

N.

RobZip wrote:
I don't know the mechanics here, but it sounds as though this is a
worse violation of the "spirit" of competition than the Hendrick shock
deal was last year. I've wondered off and on over the past few weeks
how soon the 29 and 31 teams would be found to have cheated and how. I
guess they've gone the route of other teams and not actually violated
the rule book, they've just found a new way legally to manipulate
outcomes. It's a good thing Nascar found this now and not 8 races into
the Chase.

N.

"Nancy2" <nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote

if something has been going on, it certsainly hasn't shown in a big way.
and if officals have known (as the article hints toward) about something
going on they certainly took their time finding it.
Quote from article: "There's been a lot of talk this year about teams doing
this sort of thing in the garage area, but nobody was ever caught with it."

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5976758


here's the finishing position for the #29 team for the last several
races,excluding yesterday.
1st Richmond
15th @ Cali.
11th Bristol
11th Michigan
1st Watkins Glenn
3rd Indy
5th Pocono
5th Loudon
4th Chicago
9th Daytona
24th Sonoma
10th Michigan
13th Pocono

feel free to look up the results yourself found at Jayski.

mike.......

"Nancy2" <nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote

what makes me wonder is that since Indy, the 48 team hasn't run that well
and they don't seem to be at the dominate level they were earlier int he
season. it's funny how one team can suddenly go to the bad side just as
easy it is for a team to go to the good side when there is an advantage to
the rule book being used or maybe stopped being used when there is talk in
the garage area about it and being looked for.


mike...........

JerseyMike wrote:
True. Especially odd since last year, the 48 really came together in
the final 10. OTOH, who can predict what wild hair Robby Gordon will
get from one race to the next?

N.