A key NASCAR official has issued a firm response to a controversial penalty decision made last week.
Chase Briscoe had been penalized after the Daytona 500 for an alleged violation of car component rules after his car was checked post-race, with both he and Joe Gibbs Racing being docked 100 points and 10 playoff points.
That points penalty was compounded with a $100,000 penalty, but a three-person appeals panel ruled last week that holes were drilled on the spoiler base so the team could attach it to the rear deck, rather than any rule-violating reason.
Cup Series managing director Brad Moran spoke out about that decision on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week, setting out a clear stance on his organization's view of the appeal panel's decision.
What was NASCAR's view on Chase Briscoe's penalty appeal?
Moran explained: “We certainly wouldn’t write a penalty if we didn’t feel it was warranted to start with. NASCAR did feel that a penalty was warranted or we certainly wouldn’t have wrote it.
There is a lot of stuff that gets involved (with) appeals and a lot of discussions on procedures and team procedures and single source supplied parts.
"It gets quite complicated but we absolutely go back and check everything – our own systems and procedures and if it were to happen the same way, that it would be a penalty again.”
Briscoe told NBC Sports' Dustin Long: "I definitely felt like I got a new life in a sense just because it stings when it's the first race, right, and you're kind of buried the whole season. But now I feel like I'm back on a level playing field."