Nov 4, 2022; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series crew member Chad Knaus during practice for the NASCAR championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
By Sean Keeley on

Hendrick Motorsports VP Chad Knaus did not mince words on Friday when it came to penalties that NASCAR dropped on his team over hood louvers.

Knaus said the problem stems from NASCAR and its supplier, not Hendrick.

NASCAR’s stance is that the hood louvers on all four Hendrick cars were modified on March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. Hendrick Motorsports’ crew chiefs were fined $100,000 each while drivers Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, and William Byron were penalized 100 points and 10 playoff points each, as were their teams and the No. 9 team.

Hendrick Motorsports said Wednesday it was appealing the penalties. On Friday, Knaus was a bit more pointed in his feedback.

“I think it’s a terrible situation, not only for us, but the industry to be quite honest with you,” Knaus said. “I think that’s what I dislike the most. It’s ugly. We shouldn’t be in this situation and it’s really unfortunate that we are because it doesn’t help anybody.

“We as a company, we in the garage, every one of these teams here are being held accountable to put their car out there to go through inspection and perform at the level they need to. The teams are being held accountable for doing that.

“Nobody is holding the single-source providers accountable at the level that they need to be to give us the parts we need. That goes through NASCAR’s distribution center and NASCAR’s approval process to get those parts, and we’re not getting the right parts.

“There’s so many areas that we’ve got to continue to improve upon,” Knaus said, referring to the sport. “Again, that’s where I’m probably most disappointed is that we’ve been going down this path, working collectively as a group for some time, and for this to pop up like this is really disappointing.”

[NBC Sports]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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