Wheels Confiscated from RFK Racing, Team Penske at Daytona

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Fresh off its sweep of the Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing may have found itself in some hot water with NASCAR less than 24 hours later.

On Friday afternoon, NASCAR announced that it had “taken possession” of wheels from both RFK Racing and Team Penske, noting that they would be taking the confiscated items back to its R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.

One of many redesigned parts on the NASCAR Next Gen car in 2022, the wheels in particular use a larger 18-inch aluminum wheel instead of the standard 15-inch steel wheel that has been commonplace for several years. The new wheels also employ a single lug pattern with a locking center nut, instead of the five-lug pattern that has been in place for the entirety of NASCAR’s existence.

Any subsequent penalties that come from the confiscated items will be announced at a later date, the sanctioning body stated.

With the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022, NASCAR updated its penalty structure for the first time in a number of years, with stronger penalties on the board to deter teams from attempting to tamper with certain parts and pieces on the car.

After news of the confiscation broke, RFK Racing co-owner, Brad Keselowski, who won the first Duel race on Thursday night, responded to a question about the wheels from Fox Sports, providing his point-of-view on the incident.