The NASCAR Appeal Panel announced a change to William Byron’s penalty, giving him his points back but doubling his fine.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver had received a penalty of 25 points and $50,000 for spinning Denny Hamlin under caution at Texas but appealed the decision. NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition said that race control did not see the incident during the race, and they did not give the position back to Hamlin.
The amendment from the Appeal Panel gives Byron all of his points back, but ups the fine to $100,000, ruling that Byron did violate Section 4.3 NASCAR Member Conduct and 4.4 NASCAR Member Code of Conduct Penalty Options and Guidelines of the NASCAR Rule Book.
With the penalty, Byron headed into the elimination round at the Charlotte Roval tenth in the standings, 11 points behind the cutoff line. The ruling now places him in seventh, 14 points to the good ahead of Daniel Suarez. It also drops Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe – tied in the points – beneath the cutline.
Though Byron has the ability to appeal the decision further to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer, his team indicated they were happy to see the points returned.
“We accept today’s decision and thank the members of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel for their time and effort,” a statement released by Hendrick Motorsports said.
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