Two appeals and a month
later, what have we learned from NASCAR's attempt to lower the boom
on crew chief Chad Knaus and Hendrick Motorsports' No. 48 team?
Honestly, not much. In
fact, the situation is more confusing than ever.
After NASCAR's chief
appellate officer, John Middlebrook, rescinded the six-week
suspensions of Knaus and car chief Ron Malec and the 25-point driver
and owner penalties this week, Hendrick officials – perhaps
rightfully so – believed their claims of innocence were validated
by the decision.
But were they?
Yes, Johnson got his
points back and Knaus and Malec will remain working at the track, yet
Middlebrook left intact the $100,000 fine against Knaus and the
probation period assigned to both Knaus and Malec until May 9.
If Hendrick was cleared
of all charges, why does the fine and probation remain?
Given the remaining
penalties left intact, it appears Middlebrook thought Knaus and Malec
still did something wrong. But what?
In his statement
announcing his decision, Middlebrook declined to give the reasoning
behind his decision. Absent any comment from Middlebrook, we are left
to guess what parts of this entire process Middlebrook thought were
handled wrong and which were correct.
In other words, we are no
better off now than we were when this issue first arose at Daytona.
NASCAR, Hendrick
Motorsports and all the other Sprint Cup Series teams are left with
no direction as to how to proceed from here.
In the American court system, appellate courts issue written opinions with their decision with the purpose to offer guidance to the lower courts as to how to deal with similar issues when they come up again.
No such help here.
As long as they are willing to pay a big fine, it appears teams can continue to do
whatever it was the No. 48 team was doing on their car at Daytona.
A month later, no one still has
any idea whether it was right or wrong.
