NASCAR Cup Series

No penalties for Ryan Newman after Talladega inspection

Published Oct. 21, 2014 1:19 p.m. ET

Tom Jensen

NASCAR on Tuesday said it will not penalize Ryan Newman and the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team after their car was found to be too low after post-race inspection at Talladega Superspeedway.

Newman finished fifth in the GEICO 500 at Talladega, earning his fourth consecutive top-10 finish and becoming one of eight drivers to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

After the race, NASCAR determined that the No. 31 was too low, but a subsequent inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C., determined that Newman’s car suffered damage in a crash mid-race.

"I was happy with the fact NASCAR took the time to take the car back to the tech center and analyze everything," Newman said during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "In the end, they saw that the damage from being hit from behind was enough to knock the back of the car enough down to take it out of its (clearance) window."

NASCAR eliminated the minimum-ride-height rule at non-restrictor-plate tracks this year, but at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway, the cars still must meet minimum ride-height requirements.

Had NASCAR decided to penalize Newman, he likely would have been docked 15 points in the standings. Newman had already moved on to the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and had a 27-point lead over the first driver eliminated at Talladega.

"I didn't know if there was going to be a penalty, I didn't know what that penalty was going to be," Newman said. "I was confident it wasn't going to be more than 27 points because that would be the biggest penalty for that type of thing, ever, that I could imagine. In the end, you never know, and I was happy they did their due diligence."

Newman goes into Martinsville Speedway this weekend as one of the surprises of the final eight drivers. He joins Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Kenseth in this three-race segment of the Chase.

The top four drivers after the Nov. 9 race at Phoenix will advance to the season finale at Homestead, where the champion will be the highest finishing driver. A win in any of the next three races -- at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix -- automatically advances the driver to the finale.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.