“Far Too Severe” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Supports Hendrick Motorsports’ Fightback as Kyle Busch Joins Negative $400,000 Club

On Wednesday, NASCAR handed severe L-2 penalties to Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing for making some unauthorized changes to their cars’ hood louvers. However, now, with Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing facing a similar problem, it seems like this is not a team-centric issue.

Recently, Hendrick Motorsports‘ Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus opened up on the issue of single-source-supplied parts and how they are posing a huge problem to the team. Furthermore, he also revealed that Hendrick Motorsports had to make the changes in order to make the louvers fit.

And now, Dale Earnhardt Jr also feels that the entire situation has put everyone in a tough spot.

What is Dale Earnhardt Jr’s take on the penalties dolled out by NASCAR?

Explaining how a part approved by NASCAR on a computer model is posing fit issues in reality, Earnhardt Jr said in an episode of Dale Jr Download, “I feel like the penalties are far too severe.”

“And I mean it’s the biggest penalty in my opinion that’s ever been handed down in the sport. And I think that HMS is right to appeal and I believe that they will have a likely resolution that lessens this penalty in some way, some form.”

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Dale Jr on why the whole process is ‘frustrating’ 

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While talking on the podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr opened up about the problems being faced by the teams. Supporting HMS’ decision to appeal NASCAR penalties, he said, “I don’t know if it (the penalties) goes away entirely, but I think with everything that we know about limited supply, the pieces, and parts coming in different shapes and forms. Not all meeting the same sort of measurements…”

“I mean when you are racing, and critiquing things to a thousands of an inch, and the difference of a thousands of an inch could be a tenth or two tenths on a racetrack. It’s got to be frustrating.” 

“I think, with all of that information, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.”

WATCH THIS STORY: “Nothing Has Changed” – Denny Hamlin & Dale Earnhardt Jr. Break Their Silence as NASCAR Drops a Massive Bombshell

After NASCAR announced the penalties, Hendrick Motorsports released a statement revealing that they would appeal the governing body’s decision. However, they also clarified that they would not request to defer the suspensions to maintain a smooth flow for the upcoming Sunday’s race at Atlanta Speedway.