NASCAR: Brad Keselowski out of playoff contention?

Brad Keselowski and the #6 team are now in a hole after being issued a 100-point penalty by NASCAR, and they face an uphill battle to get into the playoffs.

On the Thursday following the first race at the newly repaved and reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway, NASCAR made good on their preseason promise to impose hefty penalties for rules violations this year.

RFK Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski and his #6 team were docked 100 driver and owner points and 10 playoff points. Crew chief Matt McCall was suspended for four races and fined $100,000 for modifying a part on the car that came from a vendor.

The L2-level penalty drops Keselowski from 16th to 35th place in the point standings, 34 points behind Live Fast Motorsports’ B.J. McLeod in 30th. Even with a race win, drivers must finish inside the top 30 in the regular season point standings to qualify for the playoffs.

He is also 104 points back of Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick in 15th, the last driver currently in a playoff position.

The #6 team fell to 36th place in the owner standings.

While the road to the playoffs and a second Cup Series title has gotten a lot harder for the 2012 champion, the steep penalty doesn’t make it impossible for Keselowski to get into the 16-car postseason.

Here is how he can make that happen.

Method No. 1 – Successfully appeal the penalty

RFK Racing’s quickest, and very likely easiest, way back to getting into the playoffs is simply to appeal the penalty. Any penalty that NASCAR issues can always be challenged by the affected team(s) to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.

The panel can elect to uphold Keselowski’s penalty in part or whole or overturn the penalty completely. Full overturns aren’t common, and given how rarely the panel overturns only a portions of penalties, it’s most likely that this penalty will be upheld.

But if RFK Racing can shift the panel’s perspective to see this penalty as too harsh, there is potential for RFK Racing to regain some of the valuable points they lost. If they are unsatisfied with the outcome, they would have the opportunity to appeal the decision to the final appeals officer.

A penalty this massive may not be so quick and easy to come to a decision on, so if appealed, it could still be a few weeks before any potential amendment is made to the penalty and reflected in the official point standings.