On February 8, 2008 NASCAR assessed a 100 point penalty and 6 week suspension against RGM when an as yet unapproved front bumper cover was discovered during a technical inspection of RGM’s Number 7 race car before the Daytona 500. On March 5, 2008 the three member panel of the NASCAR Appeals Commission rescinded the points penalty and suspension after Nichols and RGM established that the part was supplied by the manufacturer based on a mistaken belief that the part had been approved by NASCAR when in fact the NASCAR parts review process was still underway. In addition, it was proven that the mistake by the manufacturer was not known to RGM, was corrected before the Daytona 500 race was run, and was an innocent error not made by RGM. The points penalty previously assessed would have resulted in RGM not being in the top 35 teams competing in NASCAR’s highest level, a points standing that is critical to guarantee participation in NASCAR events. Robby Gordon, the owner and driver for RGM stated: “Steve Nichols who does legal work for RGM did a wonderful job explaining to us how the Rules work and as a result we were able to walk out there with no points penalty, which is big.” RGM is now 24th in the points standing and competes in all NASCAR Sprint Cup events, the highest level of NASCAR participation
