“Biggest points day of my career! We’re back!” Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs must be able to sleep peacefully now after their heaviest burden got off their chest. On March 5, 2025, the Appeals Panel overturned a hefty L2 penalty on Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 team after Chase Briscoe’s fourth-place finish at the Daytona 500.
For Briscoe and Co., it was a big decision. Overturning a fine of $100,000 and losing crew chief James Small for four races could have been a very difficult job for the team. But wait, have we seen this before?
Kevin Harvick certainly has. Back in 2022 at Talladega, he faced a similar penalty from NASCAR for the “modification of a single source supplied part.” The penalty? A $100,000 fine and a four-race suspension for crew chief Rodney Childers. At the time, there was no appeal, and with Briscoe’s penalty being overturned, Harvick had a sense of deja vu, a feeling that inspired him to reveal the truth of what really went down in the SHR garage with the penalty.
Speaking on the Happy Hour podcast, Harvick revealed why former boss Gene Haas didn’t appeal the penalty. “I love that they overturned it. We went through this a few years ago with the base of our spoiler at SHR and got penalized for it. And ultimately, Gene Haas didn’t want to go into an appeal process with Guenther because Guenther owned the company that produces the parts, Fibreworks. So Fibreworks talked the Haas side out of going to the appeal process for the exact same thing that just happened, the inconsistency with the parts. And all these inconsistencies with the parts create is more work for the teams to say, okay, that one’s for a short track, that one goes to the road course, that one goes to the speedway, that one goes to a downforce track. Because they all vary so much that they have benefits somewhere else. So I just don’t understand why we can’t see it all.”
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Championship Qualifying Nov 4, 2023 Avondale, Arizona, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick during qualifying for the NASCAR Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. Avondale Phoenix Raceway Arizona USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20231104_mjr_su5_006
For Harvick, Haas not appealing caused him to lose 100 points, which could have meant the difference for him when it came to the playoffs. In the end, it caused Harvick to finish in 15th place, his first time outside the top 10 since 2009.
At the time, NASCAR President Steve Phelps made his stance clear on the matter after Harvick and Childers made sarcastic comments on X about the penalty. “I would say that’s ridiculous. No one has a vendetta against Kevin Harvick or Rodney, at all, or anyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. Our guys are very good. They are going to look at (an infraction). Look at it again. Look at it a third time to make sure there’s a penalty and the penalty is right. If the four team thinks that’s not right, they will file an appeal.”
As for Fibreworks, The company would get involved in another one of NASCAR’s famous rulings when Chase Briscoe received an L3 penalty that came with a hefty $250,000 fine the team had to pay. Briscoe’s penalty was due to counterfeit ducts installed in the car. These ducts were later shown to all teams at the next race. Fibreworks became part of the controversy because it was the single supplier that installed these parts for all teams.
Regardless, it was this inconsistency that Kevin Harvick believes currently lacks in NASCAR rulings. Speaking about the inconsistencies in the Austin Cindric penalty from this year, Harvick wasn’t mincing his words. “The reason that you’re (NASCAR) getting trash is because of the fact that you’re not consistent. You’re not doing it the same. Don’t give me this garbage that every scenario isn’t the same, and we got to talk through this. No, that’s not right. Right hook, left hook, road course, short track, intermediate, I don’t give a s*** what it is. It is as simple as that. Joey Logano is over the line before the start-finish line call. It’s that simple.”
But that’s not all Harvick wants to talk about. He isn’t too happy with NASCAR’s new gimmick, the option tires.
Kevin Harvick rips into NASCAR’s option tire strategy
When NASCAR used the option tires last weekend, they wanted fans to see more action. And that’s exactly what happened. Ryan Preece jumped from below 30th position to take the lead for a big chunk of the race, even getting those crucial stage points. Joey Logano could switch up his plans after getting hit with an early speeding penalty. In short, racing was entertaining to watch because some drivers had more grip than others.
However, Kevin Harvick, among other members of the NASCAR community, weren’t all for the chance. Speaking about it on his podcast, he said, “Christopher Bell had a strong opinion on the two tires in the race that he mentioned in the victory lap, and I tend to agree with him on that. I think that two tires in a race are a little bit ‘gimmicky,’ and in this scenario, I like the fact that NASCAR and Goodyear said let’s have the option tire for the race, and that adds a lot of elements for us to talk about. But I agree with Christopher on the gimmicky side of it in the championship race scenario with all the timing of the cautions and everything that has come out. I want the tires to wear out and the driver having to make choices and take off and fall off and I wanna see the guy that can manage his tires and keep his track position. I think that the softer tires were well received and seemed to wear well.”
Christopher Bell, winner of the Shriners Children’s 500, felt that the tires brought unpredictability to the race. “The option tire. Does it produce comers and goers? It does, but also, if you’re not good, then you’re gonna do the opposite, right? So what do we want the champion to be? Do we want the champion to be the best car, or do we want to be the guy that sucked all races and saved a set of red tires that got the lucky yellow? Yeah, I am very torn on it, and we’re getting further and further away from traditional racing.”
What NASCAR plans to do with these tires in the future remains a mystery, but one thing’s for sure. It will rattle the community when a decision is made.
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