Brad Keselowski's team loses final appeal; penalties stand
Brad Keselowski isn’t getting back 35 points and crew chief Paul Wolfe will miss Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway.
Team Penske has lost its final appeal of a penalty assessed to the team after Phoenix when Keselowski’s car failed post-race inspection. Keselowski was penalized 35 points and Wolfe was suspended three races after the rear of the car failed laser inspection.
“We are disappointed in the outcome of today’s final appeal hearing,” Team Penske said in a statement. “While we appreciate the process that NASCAR and the National Motorsports Appeals Panel has put in place to resolve issues like this, we felt like the penalties received following the March event at Phoenix were unjust. Brian Wilson will once again serve as Brad Keselowski’s crew chief this weekend at Kansas Speedway. We’re happy to finally have this behind us as the No. 2 team focuses its efforts on another Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.”
Penske lost its initial appeal and the final appeal of the penalty was pushed back to Tuesday. Because of the rescheduling, Wolfe went ahead and served the second of his three-race suspension Sunday at Talladega. Keselowski finished seventh.
The first race of Wolfe’s suspension came at Auto Club Speedway, where Keselowski finished second. The team made the decision to appeal after Auto Club and Wolfe was on the pit box when Keselowski won at Martinsville in April.
Team Penske said this week that it wasn’t appealing the penalty handed to Joey Logano after Richmond. Logano’s car failed the thorough post-race inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center after he won the race. Logano was penalized 25 points and his crew chief Todd Gordon was suspended two races. That means both Penske cars will have interim crew chiefs at Kansas as Gordon serves the final race of his suspension.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
