After Kevin Harvick’s dominating win in Las Vegas on March 4, NASCAR discovered some irregularities during post race inspection at the NASCAR R&D center – NASCAR randomly picks a group of cars to undergo a detailed inspection at their R&D center after each race.
The Stewart-Haas Racing number four car was found to have two separate violations when the rear window brace support and the side skirt rocker panel extensions were constructed from materials that were not approved by NASCAR.
As a result of the infraction, Harvick’s win is considered to be incumbered and cannot count toward his “Race for the Chase”. However, his Atlanta win is not affected and Harvick is still guaranteed a spot in The Chase along with Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon.
Harvick dominated the race winning all three stages and the seven playoff points that go with it. All seven of those playoff points have been stripped from Harvick. Harvick has also been docked 20 driver points.
Other penalties as a result of the infraction are a two race suspension for car chief Robert Smith, a $50,000 fine for crew chief Rodney Childrers, and car owner Stewart-Haas has been docked 20 owner points..
Other penalties issued after the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a lug nut violation for the Monster Energy Cup Series number 55 car driven by Xfinity Series regular Joey Gase. As a result of the infraction, crew chief Todd Parrott was fined $10,000.
feature photo credit: By Sarah Stierch – Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41353373