European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                              July 2007 stars amp stripes Mideast edition Page 25 is Lascar taking creativity from teams by Mike Harris the associated press Lascar has made it Clear that its boxy new car of tomorrow is practically untouchable when it comes to attempts at creativity by the with imbedded lasers to Check on a new set of templates connected like a Jigsaw Puzzle and a steely determination by the sanctioning organization to keep the playing Field level for All the big question is whether the arrival of the cot Means the end to imagination in a sport known for its racing particularly in always have taken Pride in the fact that mechanics and engineers have found ways to use the so called Gray areas on the cars to be creative and find at least a Tempo Rary advantage Over other but the Gray areas keep getting smaller and Lascar is cracking Down on even the smallest thing its inspectors see As a violation on its new seven years in development and intended to be More competitive and less expensive to the new which will race 16 times this was scheduled to be blended into the schedule Over a three year but Lascar has pushed it Forward and the cot will run All 36 races in Chad Knaus and Steve Crew chiefs for reigning Sextel cup Champion Jimmie Johnson and fou time Champion and current series Leader Jeff Are serving the second week of a six week suspension As the cup teams head for Daytona Beach and saturday nights Pepsi two weeks ago at inspectors found illegal modifications to the front fenders of the two Chevrolet and Lascar came Down de spite protests from Hendrick officials that the area modified was Between the Points where the tem plate for that area is supposed to fit the two cars were held out of practice and qualifying on Friday at Sonoma and had to Start from the rear of the Field on Sun the other shoe fell several Days later when Knaus and Letarte were suspended and fined the Drivers also lost 100 Points these were the same penalties handed Down several weeks earlier to Dale Earnhardt and Crew chief Tony Eury after their cot was found to have illegal brackets on the rear Wing of their 8 after Lascar flagged Johnson and Gordon at Doug vice president of development for we Felt we understood fully the rules around the we Felt that we could work Between the Points on the and it is now Clear to and i think to that that is not accept so where does that leave All the i still enjoy the sport the the the Microscope were its so much greater than it it never gets Dino Jeff Gordons 24 shown being inspected by Lascar failed inspection before practice on june 22 in Hendrick motor sports teammate Jimmie Johnson also failed both Crew chiefs were suspended for six weeks and fined and each Driver was docked 100 Lascar has made it Clear that the boxy shape of its new car of tomorrow is practically untouchable when it comes to attempts at creativity by the Sextel cup Richard Childress Sextel cup owner Clever folks who work on these cars they have taken almost All the creativity out of the which in my prior life was one of the biggest so that hurts a Little said Ford Lascar Field manager Ben a former Crew the bodies Are locked Down pretty almost locked Down he the Chas Sis is fairly but theres still a Little bit of latitude Here and i think theres just been a the creativity has to go into bump Pivot Points and All of that but does that mean the excite ment is gone for the people who work on these cars i had a lot of enjoyment when i Felt like i had thought of something that some body else meaning other Crew chiefs and the rules Mak Leslie that the Job i was my car owner gave me the task of making the 6 car As fast As and Lascar gives their inspectors the task of Mak ing sure everybody on a level playing it takes some of the fun out of but some of it might have been getting out of team owner and former Driver Richard Childress agrees that things might have been getting out of hand in manipulating the bodies of the cars in recent if you look at the current it had gotten so far out of the Box its twisted and looked like it had been wrecked before the race Childress this cot is the car that Lascar has Given us and these Are the set of rules even though in not in that its still our Job As competitors to beat everybody else in the garage he you take Pride in other areas John Nastars garage Doest believe the changes Lascar is making should stifle creativity at i Haven seen the toolboxes get any which tells me theres still plenty of stuff to work Darby the real fact of the matter is the ingenuity and the things like the car which is what were talking about its still the rear Wing has got Over 16 degrees of travel in it to tailor your rear Dow Force to whatever you need to do to balance the your front splitter is they have a pretty full selection of what Wing end plates they can put on the changing All of those things represents the same result As when you used to go Home and Cut a whole body off and change Robbie a former championship Crew chief with Gordon and now a vice president at Petty said he believes the penalties to Knaus and Letarte were too harsh and that the key to the situation is More Communia were going through a Tough time because its a transitional be Loomis the communications from the teams to Lascar has got to really get a lot stronger so that its defined very clearly what a Gray area is and what it Childress agreed with say we All have to be on the same Page that just Doest seem to be the Way it we Lascar and the need to work on i still enjoy the sport the the respond the Microscope were its so much greater than it it never gets Ime Tel Cui race 18 Pepsi 400 at Daytona into Speedway Daytona 2 sunday of sports last race a two tire Gamble for Denny Hamlin paid off with his first Sextel cup Victory of the sea son at new Hampshire International last year Tony Stewart was Back to his on track dominance and of track win Ning his second straight Pepsi 400 by charging to the Lead with two laps to Stewart led More than half the surged Back in front with two laps remaining and held off a late charge from Kyle and Kurt the Busch Brothers finished second and Driver to watch in the past seven Martin Truex has scored his first career Sextel cup notched four finishes of third or better and been lower than 16th Driver standings after 17 of 36 races Jeff Denny Hamlin Matt Al mate Jeff Burton Tony Carl Edwards Kevin Kyte Martin Truex Chat Dale Earnhardt Ryan Jamie Kurt Greg Bobby Juan Mark Martin Busch series this week win Dixie 250 at Daytona 2 last race Kevin Harvick held off a late Challenge by Carl Edwards to grab his Sec Ond Busch Victory of the season at new Hampshire International last Yean Dale Earnhardt returned to Daytona Victory Lane for the first time in More than two winning the win Dixie Earnhardt took the Lead Early and dominated the rest of the holding off Brian Vickers after a late Earnhardt led 88 of 103 laps and picked up his 21st Busch Victo tying his late father and Harry Gant for seventh on the career fast facts Edwards has an 809point Lead Over David Reutimann in the next race us sheetrock july craftsman trucks last race Travis Kvapil passed a spinning Brad Keselowski with nine laps to go and pulled away on the restart to capture the Oreilly 200 at his second Victory in three next race built Ford Tough july Lex Andy this week Watkins Glen grand prix at wat Kins for More coverage erne Thrace Firestone indy july glad formula ome this week British grand prix at Silver last race Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa gave Ferrari a sweep of the top two places n the French grand last Yean Fernando Alonso won the British next race German grand july nuer cars this week grand prix of last race Robert Doornbos drove to his first career Victory in the inaugural Champ car last Yean Allmendinger won the Mol son grand prix of Toronto for his third Victory in a next race grand Pix of july standings for other series on Page