This week Hendrick Motorsports received a heap of penalties for their two stars, Gordon and Johnson, for irregularities with the front-end setup of their COT cars at Sonoma. When the cars failed inspection, both drivers were prevented from opening practice and from qualifying. As a result, both drivers started at the end of the field for the race.

NASCAR issued additional penalties this past Tuesday where each driver was docked 100 points and their crew chiefs fined $100,000 with 6-race suspension and probations until the end of the year. As harsh as the penalties were, at least NASCAR is being consistent this time as the penalties were the same that Dale Earnhardt Jr. got when his COT was found to be modified differently from required setup.

However, as well and good that the punishments was doled out, just how effective are they these days? Chad Knaus has been in this situation before but it seems to not affect his mindset a whit. He was suspended for four races last year after the Daytona 500 but Johnson won two out of those four races while Knaus out. Certainly didn’t hurt Johnson any and Chad was phoning it in to the crew on race days.

Another issue regarding the effectiveness of the penalties is just how much of a dent the 100 points are going to make to Gordon and Johnson as high up in the standings they are currently. Even with the point docking Gordon remained in first place with a comfortable lead over Hamlin and Johnson dropped from third all the way down to fifth. Wooo! How scary!

I doubt that the missing points are going to make all that much of a different come Chase time. As it is now, both drivers are going to get 40 bonus points for each winning 4 races so far this year.

If NASCAR really wants to be serious in punishing teams that change the COT setups then don’t fine the teams, dock points, or suspend crew chiefs but rather suspend the actual driver. For one thing, it would definitely get the attention of sponsors who are shelling out the mega bucks to ensure that their product is shown in the best light possible when they are hosting VIPs in the hospitality suites only to have John Andretti or Mike Wallace at the last minute drive the Dupont Chevrolet instead of Jeff Gordon.

Then the other thing is you don’t think that the fans would surely be upset if on race day their favorite driver wasn’t going to be racing after shelling out $125 per ticket, getting up at 4AM to drive to the track, paying $40 for a t-shirt, $7 for a speedway dog, and having to tote 24 cans of their favorite beverage in a clear plastic bag (with ice separate in the little soft-side cooler) up to their seats mid-way up the tower section of turn 4 then yell “Go Andretti!” I, for one, would be extremely agitated but then I doubt it would last after about can number 12.

The point is though that I believe that the teams would be a little less blatant about the cheating if there was a bit more teeth in the punishment. Sitting a driver down multiple races instead of the crew chief would definitely do it. After all, who goes to the races to see Chad Knaus on top of the box?