Daytona Beach, FL (My Sportsbook) - NASCAR doled out huge penalties Wednesday to Front Row Motorsports in the wake of illegal valve stem caps that were used on Travis Kvapil's car last weekend during the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500. NASCAR fined Front Row Motorsports crew chief Steve Lane $100,000 and suspended him for 12 weeks. The organization also suspended Front Row Motorsports car chief Richard Bourgeois and tire specialist Michael Harrold for 12 weeks, and also docked Kvapil and car owner Doug Yates 150 points each. Team owner Bob Jenkins appealed the harshness of the penalty. "We take the rules of this sport very seriously, and we support NASCAR in its enforcement of those rules," Jenkins said in a statement. "It was not our intent to put unapproved valve stem caps on our car at Pocono, a track where such a maneuver would clearly not provide any advantage. We are conducting our own internal investigation to determine how those parts got into our inventory and onto our car last weekend. "While we recognize we have to pay for our mistake, this was an unintentional, isolated incident. We plan to immediately submit an appeal through NASCAR's formal appeal process as outlined by the NASCAR rule book." Because of the point deduction, Kvapil was knocked out of the top 35 in the Sprint Cup Series owner standings, meaning he'll have to qualify on speed and isn't guaranteed a spot for this Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway.
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