NASCAR issued its weekly penalty report Wednesday after the races at Michigan International Speedway and Road America last weekend.
The Penske Racing team of Brad Keselowski received the biggest penalty. The third place finisher in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Pure Michigan 400 saw their car fail post race inspection Sunday. The Ford, raced by Keselowski was found to be less than .01 degrees outside the allowed measurements for the rear toe. As a result, crew chief Paul Wolfe was fined $15,000 and the team was docked 10 owner and 10 driver points.
Written warnings were also issued to the Keselowski team along with the teams of Regan Smith, Ryan Newman and Michael McDowell for failing the Laser Inspection Station (LIS) twice in pre-race inspection. The McDowell team and the team of driver Josh Wise also failed the LIS three times prior to qualifying. The teams were issued written warnings and docked 15 minutes of practice time, a penalty that was served at Michigan.
The Hendrick Motorsports team of driver Kasey Kahne, along with the Hendrick team of Chase Elliott and the HScott team with driver Michael Annett were given written warnings for failing the LIS twice pre-qualifying.
The teams for Trevor Bayne, Smith and Kyle Larson all received written warnings for failing pre-qualifying template inspection twice.
In the XFINITY Series, the only written warning given out was to Owen Kelly for failing pre-race laser inspection twice.
Camping World Truck Series driver Spencer Gallagher was hit with a behavioral penalty and fined $5,000 for approaching the racing surface or apron during the event. Gallagher was involved in an accident with driver Christopher Bell. After the crash, Gallagher ran away from the ambulance towards the scene of Bell’s truck to check on the driver.
The full penalty report can be found here.
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.
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