NASCAR hit Robby  Gordon hard for having the improper nose on his Dodge at Daytona. Series officials penalized Gordon 100 driver points, fined crew chief Frank Kerr $100,000 and suspended him for six races and placed Kerr on probation until Dec. 31.

Gordon had the wrong Dodge nose on his car. It's a nose that is expected to be approved but hasn't yet, Gordon said on Feb. 9. Remember that Gordon recenlty switched from Ford to Dodge.

"It's something that has been in the works for a while, it just doesn't have NASCAR's stamp on it yet,'' Gordon said that day. "But someone at Dodge released it and they delivered it to us. We don't make these. They come out of a mold. We just get them.  We didn't know any better.''

The mistake will hurt Gordon, who finished eighth in Sunday's Daytona 500. He scored 142 points and was ninth in the driver standings. Now, he's down to 42 points and falls to 40th.

In the Nationwide series, NASCAR penalized seven teams. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team got the biggest penalty _ rear end of spoiler not meeting specified height and altered rear spoiler after passing template inspection to enhance performance. Earnhardt lost 50 driver points, Rick Hendrick lost 50 car owner points, crew chief Chad Walter has been fined $25,000 and suspended for the next six Nationwide events and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

NASCAR also docked drivers Kertus Davis, Johnny Sauter, David Gilliland, David Stremme, Cale Gale 25 points each for the oil reservoir tank cover not fastened securely. Their crew chiefs each were fined $15,000, suspended six races and placed on probation until Dec. 31. And, Jerry Baxter, crew chief for David Reuitmann, was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until July 9 for carburetor venturies exceeding the specified size.

And in the Truck series, Todd Bodine lost 25 points for a device designed to reduce the bed panel height at the points of inspection. The infraction was found during pre-qualifying inspection and NOT after he won the Daytona race. Crew chief Mike Hillman, Jr. has been fined $10,000 and suspended for the next four Truck events and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Also, Ron Hornaday's crew chief, Rick Ren has been fined $5,000 for spoiler braces exceeding the maximum 1-inch width.

Remember that NASCAR now donates fine money to the NASCAR Foundation, which gives money to various charities. So, the NASCAR Foundation will collect $220,000 from the Daytona penalties.

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