In the first penalty report of the season, NASCAR has issued two big penalties after confiscating part during the inspection process at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR confiscated the roof rails on the Stewart-Haas Racing number 10 car driven by Noah Gragson and the number 41 car driven by Ryan Preece. While not a single source part, there are rules the crews must follow in building the rails.
According to the NASCAR rule book, the roof rails must “be constructed of 0.05-inch thick aluminum, be installed perpendicular in the applicable slots, must not interfere with the functioning of the roof flaps, and they must be painted.”
As a result of the infractions, the 10 and 35 teams have been docked 35 driver and owner points. The penalty drops Preece to 37th in the points and Gragson is now 43rd in the points.
In other penalty news…
Joey Logano was fined $10,000 for his altered gloves. The rulebook states that drivers must wear SFI approved safety gloves. During qualifying on Saturday morning, the FOX Sports television camera caught the unapproved left hand glove on Logano’s hand when he raised it to alter the air flow in the window while qualifying his number 22 car. There was webbing between the fingers and thumb. Fellow driver Denny Hamlin has been making a stir saying that someone “snitched” on Logano…yeah, the TV camera.
In the Xfinity Series, the Joe Gibbs Racing number 19 car driven by Ryan Truex was found to have a single lug nut unsecured in post-race inspection. Crew chief Seth Chavka has been fined $5,000.
Crew chief Jason Miller for the SS GreenLIght Racing number 14 car driven by JJ Yeley has been suspended for the next two races (Las Vegas and Phoenix) for violating the NASCAR rule book relating to member to member confrontation with physical violence – he struck driver Kyle Weatherman after the race on Saturday evening.