DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As far as Brian France is concerned, nothing NASCAR does will ever fully eliminate the cheating that plagues the stock car series.

But levying stiff fines will certainly make a crew think twice before crossing the line. That was the goal Tuesday as NASCAR suspended four crew chiefs for cheating and took the unprecedented step of docking four drivers points before the season-opening Daytona 500.

Whether it's enough to clean up the sport remains to be seen.

"You have a lot of rules that are up for interpretation, you're going to have a couple of people who want to try the system," said France, NASCAR's chairman. "There's a lot on the line. That's been going on forever. It will go on forever.

"But it's our job to escalate penalties. It will be undeniable that when you keep pushing the system and test the integrity of the sport, we will do whatever it takes."

NASCAR suspended the crew chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler in its strongest statement to date on cheating. All four cars failed qualifying inspection, and a fifth, Michael Waltrip's startup Toyota Camry, faces additional penalties that could be even more severe.

Robbie Reiser, crew chief for Kenseth, and Kenny Francis, crew chief for Kahne, were suspended four races and fined $50,000 each. Their drivers were docked 50 points each.

Rodney Childers, crew chief for Riggs, and Josh Brown, crew chief for Sadler, were suspended two races and fined $25,000. Their drivers were docked 25 points each.

Kahne, Riggs and Sadler are teammates at Evernham Motorsports. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and runner-up last season, drives for Roush Racing.

All four crew chiefs can appeal, a process that could allow them to work the Great American Race. If they do and the committee cannot schedule a hearing before Sunday's race, they would be allowed to participate.

But Roush Racing already has a replacement for Reiser, and said the 500 will be the first race he has missed since the team's inception in 1999 — a stretch of 255 races.

The harsh punishment is unprecedented but not unexpected: NASCAR threatened last summer to ratchet up its fines to curb the cheating.

"They are doing exactly what they said they were going to do," said two-time series champion Tony Stewart. "Anybody who got a penalty knew that if they stepped over the line, this is what's going to happen. NASCAR said for months that if you step over the line this is what's going to happen. So they really don't have any room to complain."

NASCAR is still investigating Waltrip, who had a car part seized and shipped back to North Carolina for further analysis.

It's the second straight season that NASCAR's biggest event has been marred by cheating scandals. Last year, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief was sent home for four races when he was caught cheating in qualifying. Johnson won the race without Chad Knaus, who rejoined the team in March and helped Johnson win the Nextel Cup title.

NASCAR did not strip points from Johnson because the sanctioning body had been reluctant to force a team to start the season in the red. But after three cars failed inspection during Sunday's qualifying session, NASCAR decided it had to up the ante to deter teams from continuously pushing the envelope.

The actions come at a time when France is attempting to jump-start the family business, which seemed to plateau last season after years of booming popularity. With television ratings down, attendance at a standstill and France still trying to match the NFL's broad appeal, NASCAR felt it had to crack down on cheating.