Richard Childress Racing lost its final appeal of penalties assessed by NASCAR to Ryan Newman's No. 31 team for altered tires used on Newman's car in the March 22 race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

RCR presented its position to National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss on Wednesday. The hearing, held at NASCAR's Research and Development Center, 

lasted roughly nine hours. Moss, the former president of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., noted in his decision that "Based on a preponderance of evidence, the Appellants (RCR's No. 31 team) violated the Rules," and "Based on a preponderance of evidence, the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer upholds the penalty as amended by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel."

On March 31, NASCAR handed down the severe penalties to the 31 team following a tire audit conducted after the race in Fontana. The infractions resulted in a P5 level penalty on NASCAR's six-level penalty scale.

Luke Lambert, the crew chief for the No. 31, received a six-race suspension and was placed on probation until Dec. 31 as well as fined $125,000. James Bender, the team's tire technician, and Philip Surgen, the team engineer, were also suspended for six races and put on probation for the remainder of the year.

Newman had been penalized with a loss of 75 points in the driver championship standings, while Richard Childress was docked the same number of points in the owners' standings.