Daytona Penalties Stick

Tuesday, March 6th 2007, 9:12 am

By: News On 6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ An appeals committee has upheld penalties levied against drivers Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne after NASCAR caught their teams cheating at the Daytona 500.

The crew chiefs for both drivers were suspended four races and fined $50,000 apiece. Both drivers were docked 50 points.

The three-judge panel agreed that the penalties assessed were ``severe by the standards of a year or more ago.'' But NASCAR officials argued to the commission that they had warned teams last summer that penalties would be ramped up from previous benchmarks for serious violations.

In all, five teams were caught cheating during preparations for the season-opening race.