SONOMA, Calif. -- Owner Rick Hendrick ardently defended two of his four race teams at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, one day after the cars of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were held out of practice and qualifying for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Gordon and Johnson's Chevrolet failed initial inspection when the dimensions of their front fenders were deemed to be outside NASCAR tolerances.

The infraction forces Gordon, the defending champion of the event and the Nextel Cup points leader, to line his No. 24 Chevrolet up 41st and Johnson, the defending Cup champion, next to Gordon in 42nd.

Both men practiced Saturday, with Gordon third in the first practice and both he and Johnson in the top 10 in Happy Hour.

"This is a penalty," Hendrick said adamantly. "We're behind everybody else because we didn't get any track time [Friday]. Starting in the rear, nobody's ever done it and won a race here.

"This is a big penalty not being able to qualify and get a good starting spot and a good pit spot. I'm not going to say it's impossible [to overcome] but we're just hoping for a good finish. If these two cars finish in the top 10 [Sunday] I'll be real happy."

NASCAR indicated further sanctions might be forthcoming after next week's competition meetings, and Hendrick said he had already begun pleading his case.

"We'll have to see what the penalty is," Hendrick said. "But I don't think that the penalty fits the crime in this case, when you're talking about the top of a fender and you're doing it by hand.

"Is somebody going to decide a championship that way? That'll be an awfully tough deal."

Hendrick is trying to make a case that his men did nothing new with their adjustments.

"Well, I don't necessarily say they bent the rules -- I think they thought they were working inside an area in which they could," Hendrick said. "The fenders on the car are sitting out there in front of God and everybody, so if you're going to try to do something to gain an advantage you wouldn't do it rolling through inspection. (Continued)