Dale Jr., Kip Childress open up about CARS Tour Wilkesboro DQ process, results

Above all else, CARS Tour leadership wanted the appeals process, the first of its kind for the series, to be fair to Chad Bryant Racing and driver Treyten Lapcevich in the aftermath of their victory at North Wilkesboro resulting in a disqualification.

Regardless of the outcome, series co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to make sure that series executive director Kip Childress created a process that made Bryant feel as though his voice was heard and that the experience wouldn’t discourage the team from wanting to continue racing with them.

That appeal was held on Tuesday in Mooresville, North Carolina and a panel comprising of longtime NASCAR official David Hoots, South Boston Speedway general manager Brandon Brown and veteran racer Kevin Powell amended the disqualification.

Now, Lapcevich is again the winner of the race but will not receive the championship points and prize money commensurate with the accomplishment, which could mean a great deal if Lapcevich finishes within 30 points of the championship come the end of the season.

That would be the difference in winning the championship. Lapcevich is currently 58 points out of the lead.

Ultimately, the panel determined that the team was in technical violation of the rule book but a breakdown in the inspection process also contributed to permitting it. The infraction was that Bryant installed a Ford 9” rear end instead of a quick-change, a violation of the following rule:

“14. Only quick-change rear end center sections with a minimum cross section height of 12 inches at the center of the rear axle with a side bell minimum diameter of 12 inches and magnetic steel spur gears on the back side will be permitted.”

It begs the obvious question, how that was not discovered at any point before the day after the race, and the answer is ‘oversight’ and an admitted breakdown in the process. Childress says one official noticed the Ford 9” and another official didn’t recognize it as being non-compliant.

Childress wasn’t thoroughly looped into the matter until Monday.

“He looked at it, visually saw the (rear end), and didn’t register that it was wrong,” Childress said. “When I was questioned on Monday and made the call to our staff, they confirmed it was the 9” and we realized we needed to make a decision.

“When I brought it to the attention of our officials, he said, ‘oh crap,’ because this was a part that we tidied up (in the rule book) from the start of the year.”

The rule was written in the off-season and even further clarified in March after Childress consulted all the teams and determined that most were running the quick change and didn’t object to any other rear end being made illegal anyway.

CARS Tour results are not made official until Monday each week and the public knows when the results are confirmed because the series sends out the notification over social media that day as well. That the results were not yet official gave Childress the room to issue the disqualification.

“It was a chance to right a wrong and correct an oversight,” Childress said.

“There are so many times, in racing at all levels, officials make mistakes and errors are made, and more often than not because how quick things happen, we can’t always right a wrong. That we weren’t official with our results yet gave us this option.”

Another pushback to the decision to disqualify is a matter of semantic. Again, deferring to the rule:

“14. Only quick-change rear end center sections with a minimum cross section height of 12 inches at the center of the rear axle with a side bell minimum diameter of 12 inches and magnetic steel spur gears on the back side will be permitted.”

It doesn’t say that a Ford 9” is not allowed but Childress respectfully objects to that interpretation.

“It doesn’t say that a school bus rear end isn’t allowed,” Childress said. “If we do it that way, it will be a never-ending set of rules.”

He points to the word ‘only’ as carrying the definition of the rule.

Childress says a lot of teams have praised that the CARS Tour rule book over the years for not being lengthy and wordy. He says he is open to further clarifying certain rules but isn’t keen to go that direction because it would lead to a never-ending series of addressing semantics with every section.

He basically said it was a ‘be careful what you wished for’ proposition and that he really felt confident about the rule book as it is currently written. One of the biggest duties Childress has been tasked with since joining CARS Tour in August 2023 is working closely with NASCAR to align all Late Model Stock rule books together.

What was the biggest lesson Childress learned in this process?

“The biggest thing, and we started this process after Wilkesboro, is to overcommunicate more,” Childress said. “We have a small team but we are mighty. Take Friday at Ace for example, when we moved everything up an hour, that was a tall task on our team to have cars ready to go and they answered the call.

“They are some of the hardest working guys I’ve ever known. So, what I’ve encouraged our folks to do is include me on their findings. That isn’t a knock on our inspectors but telling me what they might have found will allow me time to look into the rules to find out what is and isn’t allowed.

“That will allow me to circle back quicker an make sure we are acting appropriately. Adding that layer of communication will only strengthen our process.”

Again, Earnhardt said two things were most important in crafting this appeals process, in that they wanted it to be fair to Chad Bryant Racing and that he wanted CARS Tour to be held accountable at any time and for the process to get it right.

“We want to be better, and we want to improve,” Earnhardt said. “We’re just now going through the notes and recommendations from the appeals committee for how we can improve. There will be a lot of reflection throughout our group and in the office for how to come away from this to be better.”

Earnhardt said he and fellow series owners Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Justin Marks view Bryant and Lapcevich as assets to the series. He said this is yet another ‘eye opening moment’ he has had since acquiring the series before the start of the 2023 season.

He also praised the addition of Childress, who the new ownership group hired last summer when he expressed an interest in getting off the national touring road, and all his efforts since then in working with the competitors and with NASCAR in creating rule book synergy.

“I feel like we are in a really good place with Kip at the helm,” Earnhardt said. “With all the things Jeff, Kevin and Justin have going on, we were very fortunate to have been able to hire Kip when he became available. We’ve put a lot on his plate.

“So I’m going to let Kip figure out what all needs to happen next with our process, in working through the notes the appeals committee gave us. With his experience, this is right up Kip’s wheelhouse with his experience over the years.

“If we need to make changes to get better, we will, and that’s very important to us. We don’t want to be in this position often. I kind of view as something we had to go through for our own growth and we are going to get better because of it.”

Bryant did not immediately respond when asked for comment and will be included in future updates.