BRISTOL, Tenn. - If Kevin Harvick fails to qualify for the Chase for the Championship, his car owner will place the blame squarely on NASCAR.

Richard Childress was still seething Friday over the 25 points Harvick was docked as part of the punishment the team received for cheating last month. The car owner appealed, to no avail, that Harvick was innocent and should not be penalized because of the actions of his crew chief.

"I totally disagree with taking away points from the driver unless the driver has something to do with it," Childress said at Bristol Motor Speedway. "I think it's time for NASCAR to revisit the penalty system based on our new points system."

Under NASCAR's year-old points system, the field is reset after 26 races and only the drivers at the top of the standings are eligible to compete for the championship over the final 10 events. When Harvick lost 25 points, he dropped from eighth to 11th in the standings.

Harvick will start 13th in Sunday's race. Elliott Sadler won the pole for the Food City 500, Dave Blaney qualified second and was followed by Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon.

Childress spent his day lobbying for NASCAR to change the way it doles out it penalties.

"They've got to come up with a way to penalize the owners, take my car, do something," Childress said. "But you need to leave the drivers' points alone. That's a stick (NASCAR) can hold over your head, but it's not a fair stick."

Harvick and Childress were docked 25 points each in their respective standings, and crew chief Todd Berrier was fined $25,000 and suspended for four races for illegally rigging Harvick's fuel tank in Las Vegas.

Childress appealed the penalties, hoping to have Harvick's points restored and Berrier's suspension reduced. But the National Stock Car Racing Commission upheld the penalties earlier this week.

NASCAR has little sympathy for Berrier or Harvick, and president Mike Helton said docking points is the most effective way to curb cheating.

"The bigger question NASCAR's got to deal with today is `Is 25 points enough?' Because if the system gets used to that, and figures out how to overcome it, or the fact that that's not enough of a deterrent, then our big question is, `Is that not enough?' " Helton said. "We believe that in today's environment it is NASCAR's responsibility to keep the playing field level out here so nobody has to worry about what's going on next door.

"To do so, utilizing points is appropriate and impactful."

Childress also is bothered that two other crew chiefs suspended by NASCAR for allegedly cheating at Las Vegas had their suspensions overturned by the appeals committee.

Chad Knaus was suspended two races because Jimmie Johnson's race-winning car failed post-race inspection, and Alan Gustafson was suspended two races because Kyle Busch's runner-up car also failed inspection.

Both teams also were fined and docked points, which the appeals committee did not overturn.

"All I ask is, let's show it equally across the board," Childress said.