In addition to the penalties levied against Edwards and Roush, crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $100,000, suspended from the next six Sprint Cup events (until April 30) and placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2008.

Though NASCAR did not strip the No. 99 team of the race win, Edwards will not receive a 10-point bonus for the victory if he subsequently qualifies for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The 100-point penalty drops Edwards from first to seventh in the Cup standings.

Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith issued a statement after the ruling.

“The bolt holding the lid in place failed in its purpose as a result of vibration harmonics generated by the car and the race track during the race. The bolt was secure enough to survive 225 miles of practice, perhaps up to 399 of 400 miles of the race and the scrutiny of numerous inspections.

It’s a tough business for any race team to have to pledge $100,000, 100 points and a six race crew chief suspension as an indemnity payment to NASCAR against a promise forced from us by NASCAR that no bolt will ever fail its purpose under race conditions.

We are currently evaluating whether or not the circumstances justify submitting to the unpleasantness of the appeal process, but from a competitive standpoint,

we believe it is in our best interest to have Bob Osborne begin serving the penalty now. Chris Andrews, our chief engineer, will be at the track on Friday and Saturday to lead the No. 99 team and general manager Robbie Reiser will join Chris on the pit box Sunday during the race. We are confident that we have the depth of talent in our organization and the strength in Carl Edwards and the No. 99 team to overcome this penalty, should that end up being the final outcome of this unhappy episode.”

In other penalty news, the National Stock Car Racing Commission amended a penalty to the No. 14 Richardson-Haas car in the Nationwide Series, transferring a $15,000 fine from crew chief Robert Edwards to the current majority owner of Richardson-Haas Motorsports, Donnie Richardson.

The commission upheld penalties levied against JD Motorsports' No. 0 car. As with the Richardson-Haas car, penalties were levied for infractions involving oil tank covers that were not securely fastened. Robert Edwards and No. 0 crew chief Gene Allnutt have been suspended for six races. Allnutt also must pay a $15,000 fine for the violation.