Tire manipulation is a confirmed reality in the Sprint Cup Series.
Just days after drivers and crew chiefs commented on the talk surrounding tire tampering in the Sprint Cup Series garage, NASCAR leveled a big 75-point penalty against Ryan Newman and the No. 31 team for issues found with the team's tires at Auto Club Speedway.
NASCAR had been taking tires from some teams after races for audits as suspicions of teams drilling holes in the tires to regulate air pressure became public (Newman's team was one of the teams who had tires taken after the race on March 22). Tuesday, NASCAR docked Newman the points and suspended crew chief Luke Lambert, tire technician James Bender and team engineer Philip Surgen for the next six races. Lambert was also fined $125,000.
The penalty is a P5 penalty under NASCAR's tiered penalty system. According to NASCAR it violates rule 20.16.2 which says tires can't be modified and 12.5.3.5.1 which defines a P5 penalty as "effecting, modifying and/or altering the standard tires in any way, other than through authorized means such as tire pressure adjustments within the recommended range, permitted tire cooling when mounted on the race vehicle; or heat-cycling on the race vehicle on the race track earlier in the event."
The standard P5 penalties are 50 points and a $75,000 fine for Lambert. However, the points penalty was increased 25 points and the fine increased $50,000 because the infractions were found after the race. Newman finished fifth at ACS. He was asked about manipulation rumors on Friday after qualifying at Martinsville and concluded his answer with "I'm not worried about anything."
It's fair to wonder how long the No. 31 team (and others?) have been modifying tires. Newman had 16 top-10 finishes in 2014, but qualified for the Chase with 10 in the first 26 races. He had six top-10 finishes in the final 10 races, including finishing second to Kevin Harvick in both the final race at Homestead and in the points standings.
The speed Newman had in the final races of 2014 carried over to 2015. He has three top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes in the first six races of the season. However he's now 27th in the standings with the points penalty.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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