Circle Sport Racing penalties reduced on appeal

Circle Sport Racing appealed its penalty from California to NASCAR's appeals panel on Tuesday and got its penalties reduced.

After the race, Circle Sport was assessed a P4 level penalty. The problem was with inappropriate mounting of the truck trailing arm on the No. 33 car. The team was originally fined $50,000, penalized 25 points and had crew chief Sluger Labbe suspended for three races.

After the appeal, the points penalty was reduced to 10 points and a $20,000 fine. The three-race suspension was upheld.

“The process was very fair,’ Circle Sport Racing Joe Falk said in a statement. “We agree the part should have been presented to the R&D Center. We’re satisfied with the outcome, and we won’t appeal further."

The issue was found before the car, driven by Brian Scott at California, had taken the track.

Richard Childress Racing's appeal of penalties assessed to Ryan Newman's No. 31 team for manipulated tires is on Thursday. Is the reduction of Circle Sport's consequences a good thing for RCR? Well, it's likely inconsequential.

The appeals panel is a large pool of candidates and the three who heard the Circle Sport penalty (including former NASCAR driver Lake Speed) won't be hearing the RCR penalty. And the accused violations are very different. While there can be interpretations of the rule book within the cars themselves, NASCAR generally takes a hard line on tires. Plus, Newman's tires were looked at after the race.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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