Daytona Beach, FL (Best E Casino) - Martin Truex, Jr.'s bid for the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup" took a serious hit Tuesday when NASCAR slapped his No.1 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet team with severe penalties for a rules violation that occurred during opening day inspection last week at Daytona International Speedway.

Truex was docked 150 driver points after NASCAR officials discovered the roof of the car did not conform to the sanctioning body's specifications. Truex was 14th in the point standings, but after the penalty, he has now fallen to 18th, trailing 12th-place Tony Stewart by 238. There are eight races remaining before the "chase" begins, then only the top-12 drivers become eligible to compete for the Sprint Cup title in the final 10 races of the season.

Team owner Teresa Earnhardt was also penalized 150 owner points.

Both crew chief Kevin Manion and car chief Gary Putnam have been suspended from Sprint Cup competition for the next six races and placed on probation for the remainder of the year. Manion has also been fined $100,000.

After failing inspection on Thursday, NASCAR confiscated Truex's primary car and sent it to its research and development center in Concord, NC for further evaluation. Truex was forced to use a backup car in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. He qualified 35th and finished 17th.

Truex was one of the drivers who qualified for the "chase" in 2007. He finished the year 11th in points.

Meanwhile, DEI will exercise its 10-day period to decide if they want to appeal the penalty or not.

"We are still trying to understand how the car fit our templates multiple times at the shop, but we respect NASCAR's determination that one of our cars did not exactly conform to their template at the track," John Story, DEI vice president of motorsports, said in a team statement. "We have not decided if we will pursue our options to appeal. Under NASCAR's rules, we have 10 days to notify the sanctioning body of any appeal."