Earlier this year, the Hendrick Motorsports team got into major trouble. This was because the team had modified some parts of their car and were eventually caught for it.

Naturally, they faced a hefty punishment of their crew chiefs suspended for four races, $100,000 fines for each car, 100 points, and 10 Playoff points deducted per car.  Of course, HMS appealed and got the points penalties overturned. Now, this show of leniency has prompted allegations of favoritism among fans.

However, people in the NASCAR community dismissed the claims, including Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals who was at fault at the $400,000 fiasco

On the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download podcast, Junior said, “At some point, HMS felt like NASCAR opened up the door for them to make these adjustments to the parts, To make the parts fit and make the parts get closer to the actual CAD design.”

“Then NASCAR changed their communication, changed their wordage in their emails. Said, ‘Nope! We don’t want you doing this’.”

“But the cars were already on the West coast swing and out there with the parts. I myself know what I know about it, felt like that you could definitely see HMS’s point of view.”

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What did Dale Jr think of the penalty?

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The former Hendrick driver was of the opinion that there was something lost in translation. According to him, teams were initially allowed to tinker with parts, but the rules suddenly changed at the last minute. By then, the cars were already built with the designs in place, and there was nothing that anybody could do.

He continued, “The penalty was far too severe, it was a miscommunication. I don’t think that there was real intent to cheat and make their cars faster and slide something under the table. When you look at all the things, the communication between NASCAR and teams and the organizations and Chevrolet themselves, the manufacturer, you could see where this type of thing could happen.”

“The parts didn’t race, all those things factor in and my opinion is that the penalty was way too severe”

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On the bright side for Hendrick Motorsports, they got their points back, and it could have been a lot worse. Of course, NASCAR still had to set a precedent and upheld the fines and suspensions.