During the post-race inspection of the second twin race for the Limited Late Model class conducted on August 30th the weight of the #50 car driven by Haley Moody did not meet the minimum requirements and thus disqualified for the infraction.
Shortly thereafter, within the allotted time, an appeal was filled by the crew chief of the car. The argument brought forth in the appeal is the confusion of the minimum weight requirements being enforced by different officials on nights when twin races were ran. The decision was made to hold the results of the race and investigate the circumstances brought out in the appeal.
Last year, during events which twin races were ran the rules did not allow competitors to do anything to their car between races except move a tire. This year in an effort to improve competition the rules were changed to allow competitors to make changes to their cars between races. Essentially during twin event nights each race would be treated as an individual race including the minimum weight requirement.
Upon investigation it was found that on the night of August 30th there was no mention of the rule change in the drivers meeting but during the course of the year the rule change was explained in the divers meeting on multiple occasions. We found that overall the rule change was incorporated but some areas of the rule were left open to interpretation by the Competitors and Officials. Also the rule change was not recorded in the Official rulebook. Looking at the records from previous races several instances were found where different Officials were interpreting the rule in different ways.
We believe it is the responsibility of the track to ensure a fair set of rules that encourages good competition is made available, enforced, and to ensure every competitor is treated fairly. In this case we found there was no clear written interpretation of the rule and the rule was being enforced differently by different Officials throughout the year.
Therefore, the disqualification is overturned and the results from both races will stand as posted.
Also the rulebook will be updated and the Officials will be informed and retrained in the proper enforcement of the minimum weight requirements. There will be a weight chart that will be hanging in the Tech Shed with all weights and requirements.
