NASCAR hands out penalties from Auto Club Speedway

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer

After four days of deliberations, NASCAR handed down their penalties stemming from the race weekend at Auto Club Speedway on Thursday.

For his failure to fulfill his media obligations at the conclusion of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Kyle Busch was fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four championship races through April 27^th.

Danica Patrick also earned a behavioral penalty from NASCAR for leaving her car and walking onto a hot track after her incident with Kasey Kahne in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Patrick earned a higher monetary fine at $20,000, and also will be on probation for the next four Sprint Cup Series races (Martinsville, Texas, Bristol, and Richmond).

The fine that Patrick earned is the same that was issued to Trevor Bayne in June of last year for a similar incident at Dover.

Cole Pearn was not penalized for his tweet regarding Joey Logano, and seven teams were issued written warnings for failing inspection at some point during the weekend.

Carl Edwards’ No. 19 team failed the laser inspection station twice in pre-race inspection. The No. 95 Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing entry had a truck trailing arm that did not meet specifications in opening day inspection. Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 team failed template inspection twice in pre-qualifying inspection as well as failing the laser inspection station twice in pre-qualifying inspection. Three other teams (No.3, No. 21, and No. 27) also failed the laser inspection station twice in pre-qualifying inspection.

Image: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images