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#88 Team facing penalty? The situation surrounding #88-Dale Jarrett Saturday night was murky, but NASCAR said it might issue penalties this week. Jarrett's crew apparently made some pre-race chassis adjustments that NASCAR didn't like, so NASCAR forced Jarrett to start from the rear of the field.(Winston Salem Journal)(5-8-2006)
APPEAL: "Obviously, in this case, we interpreted the rules differently from NASCAR,'' Robert Yates, who vowed to appeal the punishments, stated. "But because of the lack of a clear-cut understanding on our part, we believe we have grounds for appeal and have started that process.'' Since the appeal won't be heard before next week, Labbe will be present at the upcoming Darlington race this weekend. "If our interpretation is wrong, we did wrong," Yates added. "Like most, we're pressing the envelope to the highest degree to get the best performance. We pushed reading the rules to the edge." In the wake of the Chad Knaus' ejection from the Daytona 500 in February, Yates was quoted as saying he would have fired a crew chief that cheated deliberately like in the case of the illegal rear window found Jimmie Johnson's #48 Hendrick Chevy. The veteran team owner declined to comment on Labbe's future with RYR in case the #88's appeal is denied.(Speed Channel)(5-10-2006)
Labbe offered to re-sign from RYR: #88-Dale Jarrett’s crew chief Richard “Slugger” Labbe this week offered to resign over penalties handed down by NASCAR following last weekend’s race at Richmond. However, car owner Robert Yates rejected the offer. Yates is appealing a $25,000 fine, the loss of 25 driver and owner points as well as a four races suspension of Labbe for the way the rear sway bar was mounted. Labbe said; “It wasn’t that we tried to hide anything…it was out in the open and it’s not something we did after inspection. We went through inspection with it…qualified with it and all of a sudden they didn’t like it. It was on there all day long the day prior and nothing was said so it's tough. I don’t think we were singled out, I think it just caught his (NASCAR inspector) eye and he didn’t like the way it was.” Back in February, in response to the suspension of Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Kanaus after an illegal part was discovered on the #48 car [Jimmie Johnson] after qualifying, Yates said he would fire any of his crew caught cheating. Labbe told reporters at Darlington; “The first thing I told Robert is I can make it easy for you…I can resign if you want me to…and he’s like…I fully support you 100% and what you did was a grey area of the rulebook.” Labbe went on to say; “I felt bad for Robert because he’s been around this garage for a while and to label someone on his team a cheater really bothers me and I know it bothers him too. So, I feel strongly in saying I’m not a cheater…we pushed the rules like any other team in the garage area and it just got singled out.” Many of his crew members knew what Labbe was doing with that particular part according to Labbe. “I had them (His team) read the rule book and understand my thoughts. Trust me; I just didn’t put it on the car hoping they (NASCAR officials) don’t see it. We talked about it. We worked hard on it and felt comfortable putting it on the car because it was not clearly defined in the rulebook. If they (NASCAR) don’t like it… it’s their game you know…we breathe their air.” The appeal will be heard Wednesday by the National Stock Car Racing Commission.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(5-13-2006)