The public perception of NASCAR is that it is a beautifully simple form of motorsport. Old school cars that make left turns all season (apart from twice a year when they go road racing). The fact is, it isn't simple at all. The cars have to fit into a very strict set of rules. The tiniest step out of those rules meets with swift punishment. How tiny? Try an extra bit of tape on the rear spoiler.

After last week's race at Chicagoland fans noticed a shady crew member caressing Chase Elliot's rear spoiler. Upon further inspection they noticed he was trying to remove a piece of tape from the spoiler. The fans went to Reddit to discuss what was going on and hypothesize how much of a difference a piece of tape would actually make. The original poster, ClarksonianPause (seems like a credible source of information) claims he knew someone who saw the infraction and that the tape could add around 50ish pounds of downforce equating to a lap time roughly 0.2 seconds faster.

Source NBC SPORTS Source NBC SPORTS

Now, if you believe the actual difference or not the point of the matter is NASCAR regulates the car's aerodynamics extremely closely and the slightest diversion from these regulations are not tolerated. As a result the 24 has lost 15 owner's points and Elliot has lost the same in driver's points. Crew Chief Alan Gustafson was fined $25,000 and suspended for one race. Joining Gustafson with a week off is Car Chief Joshua Kirk.

The question surrounding this whole incident is did NASCAR issue the penalty due to the fans pointing out the shady behavior on the internet? That may sound absurd but fans watching on TV have actually called in penalties and affected other sports. In golf this sort of thing happens all the time. Because golfers are petty and how dare someone who is better than them move a ball 1/64 of an inch!!! NASCAR was swift to respond to clams that the internet was the cause for the penalty.

"NASCAR brings the top 2 finishing cars of each Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, as well as at least one random car, to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further inspection that includes a full car tear down. It was here, and not at all because of Reddit, that the infraction was identified. We were well aware of the photo prior to it posting to Reddit. We can assure you that our competition executives are not going to Reddit."

At the end of the day Chase Elliot droped from sixth to eighth in the standings. That may not sound like a lot but with two races to go, and only 18 points away from missing the first playoff cut Elliott now finds himself in a less than enviable position. Not to mention he looses his Crew and Car Chiefs for the next race.

But.... There is an old adage in NASCAR: "If you ain't cheatin you ain't tryin"

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# motorsports # NASCAR # CHEATING # ChaseElliot # 24 # ShiftingLanes