Paul Menard's fledgling wild-card hopes for NASCAR's postseason took perhaps a catastrophic blow Wednesday as the sanctioning body doled out penalties, suspensions and fines to his team for a failed postrace inspection.
Richard Childress Racing #27 Sprint Cup team penalized for failing post-race inspection at Michigan (intentionally modifying frame rails for the purpose of deceiving NASCAR's inspection gauges). Paul Menard & Richard Childress docked 25 driver/owner points.
Crew chief Slugger Labbe, car chief Craig Smokstad & crew member Grant Hutchens suspended until Oct. 3, probation until Dec. 31. Slugger Labbe also fined $100,000.
Car chief Craig Smokstad and crew member Grant Hutchens also were suspended for six races and put on probation for the rest of the year.
The 25-point hit drops Menard into 16th place in points, one ahead of 17th-place Marcos Ambrose. Jeff Gordon moves up a spot to 15th.
Menard, winless this season, will likely need to win two of the next three races to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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