Penalties likely for Earnhardt, Waltrip
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A pair of high-profile Nationwide Series teams owned by drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip likely will be penalized after NASCAR inspectors found technical violations before qualifying Friday.
It's not another Daytona cheating scandal -- not yet, anyway -- but inspectors did impound Earnhardt's No. 5 Nationwide car Thursday night after spotting an illegal modification to his rear spoiler. The team got its car back, minus the spoiler and rear deck lid, Friday morning.
Five other cars were deemed illegal following qualifying, and their lap times were disallowed.
Cale Gale, Johnny Sauter, David Gilliland, David Stremme and Kertus Davis all had loose oil tank lids, potentially a safety hazard and an aerodynamic advantage.
Gale, Sauter, Gilliland and Stremme still made the race based on last year's owner points. Davis, the son of team owner Johnny Davis, did not have any points and was knocked out of the field.
Dwayne Leik, also driving for Davis, had the next-fastest qualifying speed and took his teammate's spot.
Earlier, Earnhardt said he was "disappointed" in his team.
"Everybody tries to get a little bit on the cars and the rules and get in the gray area," Earnhardt said in a television interview. "Our guys were trying too hard on a car that didn't need it. The car's pretty good. We all learned a lesson and probably deal with penalties next week, which is pretty much standard. We'll be all right."
Officials also confiscated the carburetor from the No. 99 Nationwide car driven by David Reutimann, who drives for Michael Waltrip Racing. The carburetor's venturis were too large, allowing more air to pass through and providing a potential horsepower advantage.
Waltrip's Cup series team was penalized for an illegal fuel additive in the Cup series at Daytona last year, touching off a major cheating scandal.
The backlash for this new round of violations isn't expected to be as harsh, because they're not considered as serious and occurred in NASCAR's second-tier series.
Nationwide series director Joe Balash said penalties could be forthcoming to both teams next week.
"Any time you have a modification like that, the team's trying to make the car go faster," Balash said of the spoiler on Earnhardt's car.
Rick Hendrick technically is listed as the owner of Earnhardt's car after Earnhardt's JR Motorsports team and Hendrick merged their Nationwide Series operations beginning this season.
Nationwide assumed title sponsorship this year of what was known as the Busch Series.