Truex's car impounded due to roof infraction
By MARK LONG
Associated Press
Published: Friday, July 04, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Martin Truex Jr., vying to get into NASCAR's Chase for the Championship, started the weekend with a significant setback.Truex's Chevrolet failed inspection before practice Thursday, prompting NASCAR officials to impound the car and sending Truex's crew scrambling to get the backup ready."Somebody made a big mistake," said Truex, a Stafford Township, N.J., native who drives the No. 1 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. "Shouldn't happen in this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We'll go on."Truex's car failed to fit NASCAR's roof template, and NASCAR decided to take a closer look at it. Officials planned to send the car to the sanctioning body's research and development center in Concord, N.C., and check out the roof design."I guess NASCAR wasn't happy with the way it fit," said Truex, who finished fourth at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last week. "It's their ballgame, so it's their call."
DEI vice president John Story said the car met his company's templates when it left the shop."They got down here, and apparently the greenhouse (cockpit) was too narrow for NASCAR's liking and didn't fit their templates," Story said. "We got back out of line and worked on it, beat on it as much as we could -- but basically, we weren't able to get it fixed."Truex enters Saturday's Sprint Cup race in 14th place in the points standings, 71 shy of being in position for a place in the Chase for the second year in a row.Now, though, he could be in jeopardy of falling way behind.The switch cost Truex valuable practice time and could lead to a penalty.When NASCAR introduced its Car of Tomorrow last season, it warned teams that it would have a zero-tolerance policy for altering car bodies.Since then, NASCAR has slapped several teams with 100-plus-point penalties for illegal body modifications. NASCAR probably won't announce penalties against Truex - if there are any - until next week.The infraction also comes at an inopportune time for DEI, which is trying to sign Truex to a contract extension. Truex's car is sporting a special paint scheme for the Coke Zero 400, promoting the movie "Swing Vote" starring Kevin Costner, who will serve as honorary crew chief for the No. 1 team for Saturday's race. The backup car already featured the special paint job.Reid Spencer of the Sporting News contributed to this report.
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