SONOMA, Calif. — They came, but they didn’t practice. Nor did they qualify for Sunday’s Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway.
Half of the Hendrick Motorsports stable had the day off Friday. Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 and Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 both failed to pass technical inspection, as NASCAR officials busted the two teams for front fenders that extended beyond the legal width limits. NASCAR did, however, allow the two teams to return Saturday, and after both were awarded their inspection-passing stickers, it was business as usual.
Johnson and Gordon were the first two to take to the track in Saturday’s morning practice, and both cars started at the back of the field in the Toyota Save Mart 350. Gordon rallied to finish seventh; Johnson ended up 17th.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Friday that severe penalties — this being a Car of Tomorrow race — were expected earlier this week, but Rick Hendrick, the head of Hendrick Motorsports, was hoping for some leniency.
“This isn’t like running a big motor or sucking air into the carburetor or running illegal tires. It’s right up on top for everybody to see,” Hendrick said. “These guys are in a tough position, trying to get everything they can to be competitive. We went too far, but we’ll move on.”
The other half of Hendrick Motorsports — the No. 5 driven by Kyle Busch and the No. 25 driven by Casey Mears — were clean all weekend.
“We’ll go back and make sure we know what the tolerances are,” Hendrick said. “We came out trying to win this race. Now we’re trying to survive this race.”
NASCAR officials’s initial inspection Friday revealed that the front fender on each Hendrick car was modified illegally — the second major infraction found in CoT tech. Earlier this season at Darlington, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. lost 100 points, and his crew chief was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races because of shady rear-wing brackets on the No. 8 Chevrolet.
The gavel was expected to drop hard on Hendrick Motorsports.
“We don’t know what’s coming next,” Gordon said. “We’re at the mercy of NASCAR. I hope they take it light on us, but who knows.”
Gordon, a four-time series champion, sits first in points. Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, is third.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Johnson said. “It’s really out of our hands. It’s been out of our hands for the past couple of days.”