Front Row Motorsports responds to disqualification

Front Row Motorsports responds to disqualification: After qualifying 38th
for this weekend’s race at Pocono, The #61 Front Row Motorsports entry
driven by Chad Chaffin was disqualified after a random post-qualifying
inspection determined the car to be a quarter of an inch too low. This marks
the first time in the history of the series that a competitor has been
disqualified after successfully making a race field.  Since the team must
also forfeit at least $70,000 of purse winnings, this also becomes the
largest financial penalty ever levied by NASCAR. The team requested, but was
denied the opportunity to appeal NASCAR’s decision regarding the
disqualification.

In recent years, roof-height violations have been met with fines ranging
from $20,000-$35,000 and usually a 25 point reduction in owner and driver
points. As violations have been discovered, teams were allowed to race and
to earn points and purse money for the event.  In 2005, Hendricks
Motorsports earned a victory and nearly a half million dollars in purse
winnings, despite the fact that the #48 team had failed a post race height
inspection. In each case, penalties were handed out following the race
weekend and the teams were afforded the opportunity to appeal the penalties
prior to going them into effect.

Team owner Bob Jenkins released the following statement regarding the
disqualification.  “Our team is extremely disappointed in the series of
events that took place at the track this weekend. I want to assure our fans
and sponsors that we are committed to working within NASCAR’s guidelines to
maintain the integrity of our race efforts. At no time this weekend, did
anyone from our organization purposely attempt to circumvent those
guidelines. We are unclear why NASCAR chose the course of action that they
did.  The penalty levied against our team does not seem to be consistent
with previous penalties issued for similar offenses. This has left our team
with a number of unanswered questions.  We intend to meet with NASCAR to
enable us to come to a better understanding of how they reached their
decisions and find out what can be done to resolve this matter.  I would
like to thank our fans for their continued support and our team looks
forward to the remainder of the season.”