NASCAR Eager to Throw Book at Cheaters

July 6, 2007— -- Like grease under fingernails, bending the rules has been a part of NASCAR since its inception nearly 60 years ago.

"If you ain't cheatin,' you ain't tryin' " has been something of a mantra for racing teams in a sport spawned from the outlaw culture of the Prohibition era, when rum-running moonshiners, racing the same hot rods they used to outrun federal agents, squared off on dirt tracks across the South for bragging rights and a few bucks.

But now NASCAR -- having morphed from a bootleggers' playground into a business empire with billion-dollar TV contracts and Fortune 500 sponsors — is making a controversial turn away from its anything-goes past. It's giving unprecedented scrutiny and penalties to race teams that go beyond the rules to make their cars faster.

This year eight teams' crew chiefs have been suspended, including those of the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Nextel Cup leader Jeff Gordon and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson. The crew chiefs, Chad Knaus (Johnson) and Steve Letarte (Gordon), also were fined a record-tying $100,000 each and the drivers were docked 100 series points apiece for violations during qualifying at Infineon Raceway last month in Sonoma, Calif.

Robbie Reiser, crew chief for 2003 champion Matt Kenseth, was one of five crew chiefs suspended for violations before the season-opening Daytona 500, kicking off a NASCAR crackdown on devious shortcuts -- from taping over holes in wheel wells to flaring out fenders a few extra inches. Such moves to improve a car's aerodynamics once were celebrated as garage creativity but now are viewed as something like "attempted murder," as Kenseth put it.

At the midpoint of the 36-race season, NASCAR has suspended crew chiefs for a total of 42 races; at the same point last year, crew chiefs had been suspended for a total of eight races.

As the Cup series returns to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night's Pepsi 400, the stiffer punishments have been welcomed by some but viewed warily by traditionalists who don't want creativity curtailed.

"This has been a game of, 'What is NASCAR going to let you get by with?' and it's no longer that game," says Jeff Burton, who has won 19 races in NASCAR's top series. "There is nothing they want you to do with these (cars). There is no wiggle room."

Old attitudes die hard in the garage, where cheating has long been seen as an art form. Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, concedes, "It's difficult to change any culture." But NASCAR plans to wield a heavy stick and reshape mind-sets in the name of integrity, cost containment and improved competition.

NASCAR chairman Brian France says, "The premise is not being able to fudge much with the car.

"We want the ability of the drivers to be the focus, not who has the latest gizmo," says France, who warns that NASCAR won't stop short of suspending drivers to make its point. "We're not about that."

For the old guard, race crews' constant search for competitive advantages has been at the core of NASCAR's success.

"I don't want to lose that creativity of a guy being able to set up a car the way he wants," says Fox Sports racing analyst and three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip, 60. "I don't like being looked at over my shoulder all the time. You can't nitpick every piece of that race car every week."