The National Motorsports Appeals Panel will hear Richard Childress Racing's appeal of an unprecedented NASCAR penalty for tire tampering on Thursday, April 16.
Until the hearing, the fines and suspensions as part of the penalty will be placed on hold but the 75-point driver and car owner penalties remain in effect. Should RCR win its appeal those points will be restored.
NASCAR fined Luke Lambert, crew chief of driver Ryan Newman's No. 31 team, $125,000 and suspended him for six races, including all non-points events during that time period. He was also placed on probation through the end of the season.
In addition, tire technician James Bender and engineer Philip Surgen were each suspended six races and placed on probation through the end of the year.
NASCAR found the team had tampered with tires used in the March 22 Sprint Cup Series race at Fontana, Calif., and send the tires to a third party to confirm its findings before issuing the P5 penalty - the second most serious in the penalty scale.
