NASCAR issued its weekly penalty report Wednesday and several teams were penalized, chief among them the winning team of driver Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth won the New Hampshire 301 Sunday, but his winning Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post race inspection after infractions were found using the laser inspection station. The car was sent to NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.
The result was a P3-grade penalty. The team was docked 15 championship points in the team owner standings and Kenseth was given a 15-point deduction in the Sprint Cup drivers’ standings. The points penalty moved Kenseth from eighth to ninth place in the standings. The win was Kenseth’s second of 2016. Crew chief Jason Ratcliff was also fined $25,000.
Several other teams were given written warnings Wednesday. The Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team and driver Austin Dillon and the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevy with driver Kevin Harvick were both docked 15 minutes of practice time during this weekend’s activities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 3 team failed laser inspection three times in pre-race (twice in pre-qualifying) and raised their current warning total to four. The No. 4 car failed body template inspection three times prior to qualifying.
The Team Penske No. 22 Ford team with driver Joey Logano and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota of driver Carl Edwards both failed laser inspection twice. The No. 22’s violation came in pre-race inspection; while the No. 19’s was in pre-qualifying. Both teams received their first written warnings.
A slew of other teams received written warnings for twice failing template inspection twice prior to qualifying: Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 (driver Jamie McMurray ) and No. 42 ( Kyle Larson ), Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 6 ( Trevor Bayne ), Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 10 ( Danica Patrick ) and No. 14 ( Tony Stewart ), HScott Motorsports’ No. 15 (Clint Bowyer), Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 ( Carl Edwards ), Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 ( Ryan Blaney ), JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 47 (AJ Allmendinger) and BK Racing’s No. 83 (Matt DiBenedetto).
In the Xfinity series the only written warning issued was to the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team with driver Ty Dillon for failing template inspection three times before qualifying.
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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