Childress says he received a fair appeal hearing
Richard Childress emerged from a two-hour hearing Tuesday before NASCAR's chief appellate officer confident he was given a fair chance in his quest to have Clint Bowyer's championship-ending penalty overturned.
It was a marked difference from a week ago, when the team owner was incensed by a three-member appeals panel that upheld the penalty against Richard Childress Racing.
Childress believed John Middlebrook, a retired General Motors executive, moderated an even-handed hearing between NASCAR and his race team.
''Whatever it is, I feel good about it,'' Childress said after the two-hour hearing. ''It was a very fair opportunity for us to state our case.''
Childress said Middlebrook indicated he would not issue a ruling until late Tuesday or Wednesday.
NASCAR docked Bowyer 150 points because the car he drove to victory Sept. 19 at New Hampshire failed inspection. The three-member appeals committee last week upheld the penalty, and an infuriated Childress immediately appealed to NASCAR's version of the supreme court.
It was Middlebrook's first appeal since accepting the $1 a year position in February.
Childress last week accused the appeals panel of disregarding testimony from an accident reconstruction expert the owner hired to prove that Bowyer's car could have been damaged when a tow truck pushed it to Victory Lane. Although Dr. Charles Manning was again on site at NASCAR's research and development center, Middlebrook did not call him to testify.
Instead, Childress and Sprint Cup Series director John Darby went before Middlebrook at the same time and presented their cases. During last week's appeal, each side went individually and was not in the room to hear the testimony.
''We could ask John (Darby) questions, John could ask us questions,'' Childress said. ''We could each one comment and hear the other's comments. That made it very fair.''
Childress indicated that if the first hearing had been conducted the same way, he would not have appealed to Middlebrook.
''I think today's procedure, if done similar to the other appeal, we wouldn't be here today,'' he said.
Regardless of the verdict, Childress said he was ready to move on and urged NASCAR fans to put the two-week saga behind them to focus on the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Childress still has two cars in contention: Kevin Harvick, who is ranked third in the standings, and Jeff Burton, who is ranked ninth.
''Let's go racing,'' he said.
