NASCAR has been on a roll in the 2023 season, imposing penalties left, right, and center. Having hit Hendrick Motorsports with the major chunk of it, there is still so much ambiguity in the penalizing and appealing process. The Cup Series giants saw their Phoenix penalty get overturned recently. At the same time, Kaulig Racing, despite facing a similar punishment for a similar overreach, saw its penalty getting upheld. While this has raised a lot of questions, Kevin Harvick has a solution to it.
The National Motorsports Appeal Panel ensured two contrasting outcomes for similar penalties. Obviously, this was an outrage for the NASCAR fanbase. However, veteran driver Harvick’s suggestion will definitely bring some solace to the fans.
Kevin Harvick proposes a convincing solution to avoid HMS–Kaulig Racing-like controversial saga
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This season, Hendrick Motorsports has been fined $400,000 in Phoenix and $150,000 in Richmond. On the other hand, a $100,000 fine has been imposed on Kaulig Racing for their louver violation in Phoenix. Both Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez have been penalized $50,000 each for their respective violations at the Phoenix Raceway and COTA, taking the total figure to $750,000.
While it looks like the sanctioning body has been somewhat consistent with its rulings, the same cannot be said about the Appeals Panel. The drastic difference in the outcome of HMS and Kaulig Racing appeals has been an eye-opener. Recently, Kevin Harvick spoke in detail about it with Fox Sports.
He explained his opinion on both appeals. The 47-year-old said, “So, I think this week, and once again here I am talking about something that I don’t have all the facts for, but what from the outside looking in looks like the same two penalties. You have one that’s come undone from a point standpoint and one that stays the same; you know it leads to a lot of questions.”
When asked how the appealing process can be made more transparent, Harvick had a five-word response, “We should do them publicly.”
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver continued, “If it’s truly fair, let’s just do them publicly and just live stream them on nascar.com and let’s go for it. So, I think when you start adding rules to the process I think it you know it adds more questions and in my opinion, so I think that seeing it live would be way more entertaining.”
Kevin Harvick advocates for appeals hearings to be streamed so everyone can watch. And he’s not surprised at Denny Hamlin losing his appeal.
Harvick: “Bragging about it is not the way to go about it. And win.” pic.twitter.com/txxjVTCDh0
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 9, 2023
That certainly seems to be one of the most viable options. It would not only bring more transparency but also raise awareness among fans about the regulations involved.
Without a doubt, this demand from Harvick will sit very well with the fans, especially considering how they reacted when Kaulig Racing’s appeal’s outcome was declared.
Fans express their anger and disappointment towards the unfair ruling of Kaulig Racing
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NASCAR has taken plenty of effort to bring in a level-playing ground with the Next Gen cars. On similar lines, they ensured their penalty system remains the same for everyone yet the appeal panel made a questionable decision with Kaulig Racing.
Appeals board pretty much upholds the Kaulig penalty except reduces points from 100 to 75 points (and reduction of 10 playoff points).
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 5, 2023
This infuriated fans as they demanded more clarity and transparency with the functioning of such appeals. Some of the fans’ comments on NASCAR’s official subreddit were as follows.
“Sounds like some appeals board reform is necessary starting with requirement of transparency to me”
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“NASCAR needs to be more transparent. It’s not the 70s anymore you need to release the entire decision and all the evidence from these appeals or all the people screaming BIAS, BOUGHT, SCAM, will only get louder with nothing to disprove them”
“Time for some transparency because from the outside looking in this sounds like some sh*t.”
“We need more transparency. Making decisions like this without giving fans the details of what transpired just breeds animosity and speculation. This series of decisions is unacceptable without full transparency.”
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WATCH THIS STORY: Dale Earnhardt Jr Defends Hendrick Motorsports Against ‘Cheating’ Allegations While Blaming “Miscommunication” To Be the Cause of $400,000 Fiasco
Luckily, Harvick has listened to the fans and come up with quite an appropriate solution. Now the ball is in NASCAR and the Appeal Panel’s court. Will they provide more transparency to the appeal process? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.