Phoenix Raceway penalty report; 7 crew members suspended; Biggest penalty to one team in NASCAR history
Update: Largest NASCAR fine in history: Hendrick Motorsports to appeal
Last weekend, NASCAR raced on the 1-mile of Phoenix Raceway. The race weekend was loaded with drama.
View the NASCAR penalty report from Phoenix Raceway below.
On Friday, NASCAR confiscated hood louvers from all four Hendrick Motorsports machines as well as the No. 31 Kaulig Racing machine. Those louvers were taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further evaluation.
All five teams have been handed L2 penalties. Each crew chief has been fined $100,000 and suspended for four races.
Additionally, the teams have been handed a 100 point penalty in both driver and owner standings. They also been docked an additional 10 playoff points.
Hendrick Motorsports alone has been fined $400,000 with the penalty. That makes it the largest penalty to a single team in the history of the sport.
Chase Elliott No. 9 Excluded from Driver Points Penalty: Chase Elliott is currently out with a leg injury. Josh Berry is the fill-in driver and he does not collect driver points as he’s a full-time Xfinity driver. Given that, NASCAR has not handed the 100 point driver points penalty or the 10 playoff points penalty to the No. 9 car. The No. 9 team still loses 100 owner points.
Teams Penalized: No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Kyle Larson, the No. 9 of Josh Berry (subbing for the injured Chase Elliott), the No. 24 of William Byron and the No. 48 of Alex Bowman and the No. 31 of Justin Haley.
Hendrick Motorsports was found in violation on all four of their machines. The No. 31 car, who was also penalized is fielded by Kaulig Racing.
Crew chiefs suspended: Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle and Blake Harris for Hendrick and Trent Owens for Kaulig.
Sections 14.5.4.2.A : The section relates to hood the radiator hood vents are assembled. Each of the five teams were found to have modified a stock single-source part.
Before the 100 point penalty, Alex Bowman sat at the top of the point standings. He has since been docked from the position.
Biggest NASCAR penalty in history on the way?
NASCAR comments on the hood louver penalty
“It was obvious to us these parts had been modified in an area that wasn’t approved. To keep the garage on a level playing field, we were put in a position where there was no other way but to write a penalty,” Elton Sawyer told Bob Pockrass.
“There’s areas that have been approved [to work in], to get them to fit and things of that nature. This one rose to a level that was way beyond that.”
NASCAR confiscates parts from Hendrick Motorsports at Phoenix Raceway
Denny Hamlin retaliation brings penalty
Denny Hamlin has also been fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points for violating Sections 4.4 in the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct. That section is related to race manipulation. NASCAR also noted “Actions NASCAR finds to be detrimental to stock racing or NASCAR.”
Hamlin admitted that he purposefully took out Ross Chastain in the final laps of the race. Chastain responded with brake checks.
After the race, the two drivers talked it out and they appeared to have worked out their differences.
“When he knows it’s coming, he is the hardest guy to wreck on the planet,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast.
“But I just, I wanted to get back to racing honestly with him, and I think that that’s a lot of the conversation that we had after. He came up to me, and he says, ‘I guess I deserve it.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ ”
Hamlin added, “So we talked, and I think that we are in a better place where I think we’re willing to put the past behind us, and I think that we’re going to judge each other from this point forward, and I think that’s the fairest way to do it.”
You can see more of the comments in the link below.
Denny Hamlin admits retaliation on Ross Chastain at Phoenix (Video)
Ross Chastain comments after NASCAR fines Denny Hamlin
Aric Almirola: Two more suspensions
Aric Almirola lost a wheel during the event. With the new rule change, Almirola served a penalty during the race. However, it comes with a mid-week penalty as well.
He was found in violation of Sections 8.8.10.4 A&C. Crew members Ryan Mulder (front tire changer) and Sean Cotten (jack) are suspended for two races.
This weekend, NASCAR returns to the track as the field heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR penalty system updated with possible $500k fine
Phoenix Race Results: March 12, 2023 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Links
Denny Hamlin | Kyle Larson | Josh Berry | William Byron | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Phoenix Raceway | NASCAR
