This week’s NASCAR penalties include lug nut infractions, filler panels, and a suspension.  And a NASCAR member gets reinstated.

Loose lug nuts were a major issue last weekend in post race inspections for the Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series teams.

In the Xfinity Series, inspectors found that there were two lug nuts improperly secured on the number two Richard Childress Racing car driven by Sheldon Creed.  As a result, crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz has been fined $10,000 and suspended for the next race this week at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Richard Childress Racing number 21 car driven by Austin Hill was also found to have a single lug nut improperly secured.  Crew chief Andy Street has been fined $5,000 for the infraction.

The Jordan Anderson Racing number 27 car driven by Jeb Burton was also found to have an improperly secured lug nut and as a result crew chief Shane Whitbeck has been fined $5,000.


In the Craftsman Truck Series the number 12 Young Motorsports truck driven by Spencer Boyd was also found to have an improperly secured lug nut; as a result, crew chief Tyler Young was fined $2,500.

Two Truc Series teams were cited for an L1 penalty for infractions related to the filler panels.  The Young’s Motorsports truck driven by Kaden Honeycutt and the number nine CR7 Motorsports truck driven by Colby Howard have both been docked 10 points each for the infraction.


After he was suspended by Legacy Motor Club and NASCAR, driver Noah Gragson asked for his release from LMC in order to focus on the seps necessary for making his return to the sport.  On September 12, NACAR has officially re-instated Gragson.  He is now cleared to resume all NASCAR activities after completing diversity and inclusion training.

Gragson was suspended for violating the member conduct rules on August 5.  Gragson was suspended over “his actions on social media”.  LMC suspended the driver saying his “actions that do not represent the values of our team”.

It should be noted that during the Covid pandemic NASCAR drivers participated in iRacing competitions.  During one of those races Kyle Larson uttered a derogatory term and was suspended by NASCAR.  Larson had to undergo the same training Gragson has just completed.  Since his return to NASCAR, Larson has become one of the top drivers in the sport.