After a fairly quiet penalty season so far, NASCAR was very busy handing out penalties after the races at Martinsville Speedway this past weekend.  There were a total of six penalties across all three racing series.

Not surprising, the Trackhouse Racing number 88 car driven by Shane van Gisbergen had two crew members suspended for the next two races after van Gisbergen lost a tire on the track.  Jackman Aslan Pugh and rear tire changer Jonpatrik Kealey will be able to return to the racing paddock at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In the Xfinity Series, Sheldon Creed’s 00 Haas Factory Team car was fined $5,000 after a single lug nut was found to be improperly secured during post-race inspection.

At the end of the race Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray got very aggressive in their battle for the lead with Smith giving Gray a very hard hit from behind.  NASCAR has charged Smith with a Member Code of Conduct penalty and has fined Smith $25,000 and docked him 50 driver points. The reduction in points drops Smith from sixth to 13th place in the point standings.

Xfinity Series Managing Director Eric Peterson spoke on the events saying, “we want to see really hard racing and door-to-door racing, and contact is certainly a part of the sport and part of the sport at Martinsville Speedway . We felt like after looking at all the facts, all the video, the team audio, SMT data and all the tools, we have to work with and review an incident like that. Unfortunately, what Sammy did was over the line and something that we feel like we had to react to. We would prefer to leave it in the driver’s hands but in this case, it wasn’t really a racing move and we reacted to it as such.”

Driver of the number 27 car Jeb Burton and driver of the number 43 car Taylor Gray have also been charged with violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct rule and have each been fined $5,000 for their participation in the last lap wreck.

NASCAR’s Managing Director of Racing Communications Mike Forde also spoke on the incident saying, “Taylor and Jeb were in the care center post-race and there was some behavior that (NASCAR officials) felt stepped over the line as far as interrupting a medical situation. The care center is almost an on-site hospital, so the drivers and any competitor that enters that area, there should be a sense of decorum there.”

In the Craftsman Truck Series, the number 71 truck driven by Rajah Caruth was charged with having an improperly secured lug nut during the post-race inspection.  The team has been fined $2,500.