Not to often, does a professional race car driver fail inspection and draw heavy penalties and then see some relief. That’s exactly what happened with Cambridge native Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth won in Kansas last month, but he was hit with severe penalties after his car failed a post race inspection. Kenseth appealed that ruling and yesterday found out that the loss of points has been decreased from 50 to 12. All other components of the penalty were eliminated. That means Kenseth gets his bonus points back and he moves from 12th to 4th in the Nascar point standings.
The only thing that stood up from the original penalties, was the $200,000 fine imposed upon crew chief Jason Ratcliff. But Ratcliff’s suspension was reduced from six point races to one, plus probation for the three events following his reinstatement.
Kenseth said via Twitter: “Glad to have today behind us so we can get our focus back on racing. I respect NASCAR and the appeals process, I feel like they got it right.”