Before the Daytona 500 took place, an inspection was made to all participating cars and Robby Gordon’s car was found to be equipped with an unapproved nose. The team than changed it and went on to place eighth at the first points race of the season.
Robby was expecting to be fined for that infraction although he knows that it is not intentional and it was a simple mistake which no one on his team even committed.
Let us look at what really happened. On February 2, Robby announced that he will be switching from Ford to Dodge to cut down on costs (whatever that means). So, he had a few days to change gear. Dodge supplied Robby with the car and its parts of course. This is where the mistake took place.
Dodge teams use the Charger this year but a nose for the Charger is not yet approved so they are using last year’s Avenger noses with the Charger decal. When Robby asked for a nose for his Charger, he was given the unapproved one. And this cost him $100,000 in fines and a 100 points.
Robby is appealing this matter to NASCAR and hopes that the punishment will be reduced. His sponsor, Jim Beam even went as far as calling up a signature campaign to support Robby Gordon.
If the penalty sticks, Robby Gordon Motorsports would go from being ninth in the standings to 40th. That would be bad for the team as only the top 35 teams will be given a guaranteed spot on every race this season. Even if Robby Gordon has a car that can easily overtake an Acura MDX with its water pump working at full speed, he would be hard-pressed to get back the 100 points docked from him.