NASCAR Hands Down Penalties from Dover Race Weekend

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor

It’s penalty day again in the world of NASCAR and Wednesday was a doozy, with the sanctioning body handing down a wide range of penalties to teams across all three national series.

The first teams to be hit by the NASCAR penalty hammer were those of Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon.

Bowyer and Suarez, who finished second and third in Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism, were found to have violated rules surrounding the rear window of their respective cars. Bowyer’s car did not have a window support brace that would keep the rear window rigid at all times and the rear window on Suarez’s car was not flush to the rear deck lid.

Dillon’s penalty came as a result of a pre-race inspection violation in which the front splitter did not meet the specifications from NASCAR.

As a result, the car chiefs for all three teams have been suspended. Jerry Cook and Todd Brewer, the car chiefs for Bowyer and Suarez received two race suspensions, while Dillon’s car chief, Greg Ebert, was suspended for just one race.

All three crew chiefs also received monetary fines, with the crew chiefs for Bowyer and Suarez, Mike Bugarewicz and Scott Graves, getting docked $50,000 each and Dillon’s crew chief Justin Alexander losing $25,000. Bowyer and Suarez will also lose 20 driver and owner points each.

Kurt Busch’s crew chief, Billy Scott, was fined $10,000 for a lug nut violation.

Now onto the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where race winner Justin Allgaier felt NASCAR’s wrath as his car was found to have a truck trailing arm spacer/pinion angle shim that was not in compete contact with the corresponding mating surface.

He will lose the benefits associated with his win (formerly known as encumbered) as well as other penalties handed down by the sanctioning body. Allgaier’s JR Motorsports crew chief, Jason Burdett, was fined $25,000 and suspended from the next two races. The team also loses 25 driver and owner points.

Allgaier responded to the penalty news with a post on Instagram.

Here are my thoughts on today’s penalties from @nascar. We’ve been inspected & passed at the r&d center multiple times and we continue to work with Nascar to stay within the rules on a weekly basis. I feel very confident on how we follow the rule book! @jrmotorsports

A post shared by Justin Allgaier (@j_allgaier) on May 9, 2018 at 12:40pm PDT

The No. 3 Xfinity Series team of Richard Childress Racing was also penalized as the splitter was found to not meet specifications in opening day inspection at the track, resulting in a $10,000 fine for crew chief Nick Harrison and a one race suspension for car chief Michael Searce.

Xfinity Series crew member Michael L. Hayden was indefinitely suspended from NASCAR after a Friday morning fight with JP Motorsports team owner Jerry Hataway resulted in a broken jaw for Hataway and a trip to jail for Hayden.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was not immune from the penalties as the crew chief for the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team, Wes Ward, was handed a $10,000 fine for an improperly secured lug nut.