NASCAR Cup Playoff contender hit with big penalty

The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series received an L1-level penalty Wednesday for a violation found following Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, according to the NASCAR penalty report.

NASCAR said the team violated Section 10.9.9.d of the NASCAR Rule Book, which covers the Damaged Vehicle Policy and mechanical repair. That rule states that regardless of how damage to a car occurs, the team only is permitted to reattach original body parts of the car to their original locations with fasteners and/or tape only. The No. 42 team reattached parts via metal tabs following an on-track incident.

Larson qualified 34th and was forced to start at the rear of the field Sunday when the crew made unapproved adjustments.

His Chevy blew a tire on lap 103 coming out of turn 2 after making his way up to 11th.  During the spin the blown tire chewed up the front fender.  Despite losing a lap Larson was able to rally back to finish 11th. Larson left Talladega 11th in the standings, 26 points from the cutoff.

As a result of the penalty Wednesday, Larson will be docked 10 driver points, and owner Chip Ganassi 10 owner points. Crew chief Chad Johnston is fined $25,000, and car chief David Bryant is suspended from the next Monster Energy Series event this weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Larson will now head to Kansas 36 points behind the cutoff.

Also on Wednesday’s penalty report:

• The race-winning No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was found to have one lug nut not properly installed during post-race inspection. As a result, crew chief John Klausmeier has been fined $10,000.

• Three teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were issued L1-level penalties for issues found during pre-race inspection — specifically violating Section 20.4 of the rule book that states air is not allowed to pass from one area of the interior of the vehicle to another or to the outside of the vehicle.

The teams in violation are the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet, the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet and the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Chevrolet. Crew chiefs Chad Kendrick (No. 02), Joel Shear Jr. (No. 21) and Graham Bruce (No. 52) all were fined $5,000.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.