Montoya, 42 team unlikely to face additional penalties

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Don't expect NASCAR to penalize the No. 42 team beyond disallowing the pole-winning speed. The sanctioning body's typical posture has been to remove any advantage the car might have gained by kicking out the qualifying run.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said Sunday that Chip Ganassi Racing and Brian Pattie, crew chief for the No. 42 Dodge, are not likely to be hit with any further penalties for the technical violation.

"We'll continue to review it, but this is a lot like when we find a car is a little too high or too low in inspection," Pemberton said. "It's not a major offense and losing the pole is probably enough of a penalty."

The violation that cost Montoya the pole for Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway was a clear-cut infraction of NASCAR's rules, but it wasn't likely to have given the No. 42 Dodge a performance advantage.

The Sprint Cup rule book limits the nitrogen gas pressure in the rear shock absorbers to a range of 25-75 pounds per square inch. During post-qualifying inspection Friday, NASCAR found that the gas pressure in Montoya's rear exceeded the top end of the range by what Pattie later said was 10 pounds.

With track position as important as it is in the Cup series, a 42nd-place starting position is punishment enough for Montoya.

Montoya did the best he could with a tough situation, moving his way up to 16th in the first 100 laps and finishing 20th.

"To get a top-20 from starting [42nd] is a pretty good day here," Pattie said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.