In NASCAR, there are rules. Lots of them. More rules than a gated retirement community, and just as many frowning people in polo shirts enforcing them. And this week, RFK Racing’s No. 17 team got caught doing something mildly naughty — bolstering their Ford’s front bumper like it was about to go bare-knuckle boxing with the field.
Yes, Chris Buescher finished eighth at Kansas, which in NASCAR terms is like winning a bronze medal in a bar fight. Not bad, not great, but definitely not worth a $75,000 slap from the officials — unless, of course, you’ve reinforced your front bumper a little too much.
The problem, according to NASCAR’s Brad Moran — who has all the charisma of a tax auditor explaining depreciation schedules — is that the team added more than two inches of structural oomph behind the foam on the nose. That’s a no-no. Two inches is the limit. Apparently, the No. 17 had more than that. Maybe three inches. Maybe more. Scandalous.
So now, in true NASCAR fashion, the hammer has come down. Sixty championship points? Gone. Five playoff points? Evaporated. Crew chief Scott Graves? Suspended through Charlotte, which is practically a life sentence in pit box years. The team now trails the playoff cut line like a hungover cowboy chasing his hat in the wind.
Doug Randolph has been drafted in to play substitute crew chief, which is a bit like swapping out your quarterback in the fourth quarter because the coach got grounded.
And poor Chris Buescher? Before this, he was 12th in points and comfortably in the playoffs. Afterward? Twenty-fourth. Out. Banished. Gone like a tray of hot wings at a Daytona tailgate. Ryan Preece, meanwhile, suddenly finds himself in the playoffs, probably wondering what he did to deserve such good fortune. And Kyle Busch? Bumped out. Which means somewhere in North Carolina, a TV remote has just been thrown across a very expensive living room.
Now, let’s be honest. This wasn’t exactly “stuffing a restrictor plate full of titanium and hoping no one notices.” This was reinforcement. To keep the car from getting turned into expensive shrapnel when someone forgets how to lift in Turn 3. NASCAR even admitted they told teams they could reinforce the bumper… just not that much. It’s like handing a kid a box of crayons and then yelling at them for coloring outside the lines.
Still, the rules are the rules — and in NASCAR, going over by an inch is as good as going over by a mile. Or, in this case, an inch-and-a-bit-too-much of foam-hugging steel. The car was strong. Too strong. And now Chris Buescher’s playoff hopes are sitting in the penalty box, staring at the ceiling and wondering what just happened.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the NASCAR R&D Center, a man with a clipboard is very proud of himself.
God bless America.
— RFK Racing (@RFKracing) May 15, 2025
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.