Crew chiefs suspended in cheating scandal

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR took its strongest stance against cheating Tuesday, suspending the crew chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler and docking all four drivers points before the season-opening Daytona 500 for failing inspections.\nKahne, Riggs and Sadler are teammates at Evernham Motorsports. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and runner-up last season, drives for Roush Racing.\nRobbie Reiser, crew chief for Kenseth, and Kenny Francis, crew chief for Kahne, were suspended four races. Rodney Childers, crew chief for Riggs, and Josh Brown, crew chief for Sadler, were suspended two races.\n"It's obvious that we've ramped up our penalties and we're going to get people's attention," competition director Robin Pemberton said. "We're going to grab this one by the horns."\nAll four crew chiefs can appeal, a process that could allow them to work the Great American Race. If they do and the committee cannot schedule a hearing before Sunday's race, they would be allowed to participate.\nBut Roush Racing already has a replacement for Reiser and said the 500 will be the first race he has missed since the team's inception in 1999 -- a stretch of 255 races.\nReiser and Francis may not appeal because delaying the suspension could force them to miss the debut of the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.\nIn toughening its penalties, NASCAR made the unprecedented move of taking points away before the season has even started. Kahne and Kenseth were docked 50 points apiece, while Riggs and Sadler lost 25 each.\nReiser and Francis also were fined $50,000 each, while Childers and Brown were fined $25,000 each.\nAll four drivers will start the season with negative points -- a move that most likely infuriated the teams, but sent a strong message that NASCAR will no longer tolerate rule-breakers.\nNASCAR is still investigating Michael Waltrip's startup Toyota team, which failed a pre-qualifying inspection and had a key part shipped back to North Carolina for further analysis.\nIt's the second straight season that NASCAR's biggest event has been marred by cheating scandals. Last year, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief was sent home for four races when he was caught cheating in qualifying. Johnson won the race without Chad Knaus, who rejoined the team in March and helped Johnson win the Nextel Cup title.