It was a rough weekend at Pocono Raceway for the Cup Series teams. After two teams were docked points for rule violations relating to the cars body parts and two drivers were disqualified from the race…including the winner…in post race inspection; NASCAR has issued a major penalty on the number 34 Front Row Motorsports car driven by Michael McDowell.
The team was charged with breaking five sections of reuses 14.1 and 14.5 of the NASCAR rule book. All five of the sections are related to the car body and body assembly in relation to the modification of s single source supplied part.
As a result of the L2 penalty McDowell has been docked 100 driver points, Front Row Motorsports has been docked 100 car owner points, and crew chief Blake Harris has been suspended for four points races and has been fined $100,000. Should McDowell win a race and make it into the playoffs, he will be docked 10 playoff points.
A.o get with disqualified cars driven by Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch; the number 34 car of Michael McDowell and the number 47 car driven by Ricky Stenhouse Jr have also been taken to the NASCAR R&D center for further inspection.
This is the second time that NASCAR has issued a major penalty since tightening the rules earlier this season. In March Brad Keselowski’s number six RFK Racing car was determined to have violated the rule book in relation to modifications to the rear fascia of the car. Keselowsi and RFK were also given penalties of the loss of 100 points.
At the beginning of the season NASCAR officials warned teams that the penalties would be harsher than in previous seasons.