Chase Briscoe drops tungsten on track at Homestead-Miami Speedway

A hefty penalty is pending for Chase Briscoe

Several weeks ago, we saw Denny Hamlin drop tungsten weight on track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This happened in the pace laps of the Coca-Cola 600.

NASCAR doesn’t take this situation lightly. In that case, the crew chief, car chief and race engineer were all suspended for four races.

Related: Denny Hamlin drops tungsten weight on track at Charlotte; NASCAR penalty/suspension pending (VIDEO)

In today’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, we saw the same thing.

Just as drivers were about to take the green flag, a brick appeared on the race track. This appeared to be a tungsten spacer, not tungsten itself.

NASCAR lined the field back up. Just as they were set to drop the green, the start was delayed once more as more items appeared from the back of a race car.

This time, it was in fact tungsten. The weight exited the back of a car and jumped across the race track, going right between two cars.

That race car in question was Chase Briscoe. The No. 98 was forced to give up his 8th place starting position and hit the pit lane.

The team went to searching to figure out which frame rail it came out of. Meanwhile, the race went green.

A hefty penalty from NASCAR officials is now pending for that team…

Chase Briscoe held by NASCAR officials
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – JUNE 13: An official inspect Chase Briscoe, driver of the #98 Ford Performance Racing School Ford, during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Hooters 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 13, 2020 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

NASCAR increases penalty for lost ballast

A 2015 sanction release reads, “A crew chief, car chief and head engineer will receive a minimum four-race suspension for ballast falling off the car.”

The rule book from 2015: “NASCAR has categorized certain serious safety infractions that create a significant risk of injury or damage (e.g. separation of ballast weight or wheel(s) from the vehicle) under the P3 category.”

The rule adds, “NASCAR considers such infractions to be very serious in nature and has therefore included pre-determined minimum Penalties to address the severity of such violations. NASCAR further reserves the right to escalate such safety related Penalties to higher Penalty levels when the infraction is considered to be more egregious in nature or displays a higher degree of negligent behavior.”

The crew chief, car chief and team engineer of Briscoe’s machine are likely to see a four race suspension.

Previous violations of the rule have included a hefty fine and/or a driver points docking. However, we didn’t see that in the most recent case with Hamlin.

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Chase Briscoe | Homestead-Miami Speedway | NASCAR

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