DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR has issued penalties, fines and suspensions to the car No. 1 team of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. that competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as a result of rules infractions found last week at Daytona Int'l Speedway.

The car driven by Martin Truex Jr., was found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used do not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-3.8A (roof of the car does not conform to the specifications) of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rule book.

The car did not fit NASCAR's roof template, though team officials said it fit their own templates perfectly.

As a result, Truex Jr. and car owner Teresa Earnhardt have been penalized 150 championship driver and 150 championship owner points, respectively. Both the crew chief, Kevin Manion, and the car chief, Gary Putnam, have been suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, suspended from NASCAR until Aug. 27 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. Additionally, Manion has been fined $100,000.

The championship points penalty drops Truex from 14th to 18th in The Chase standings, and he is now 238 points out of the 12th spot. Prior to Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, Truex was 71 points out of the 12th spot.

According to reports from Chicago, where NASCAR is preparing for this weekend's Sprint Cup LifeLock.com 400, DEI will appeal the penalties to the National Stock Car Commission.

"We are still trying to understand how the car fit our templates multiple times at the shop, but we respect NASCAR’s determination that one of our cars did not exactly conform to their template at the track."

The infractions were discovered July 3 during opening day inspection.