Kahne’s crew chief Kenny Francis fined $25k for post-qual infraction

NASCAR announced that Kenny Francis, the crew chief for the No. 5 of Kasey Kahne, has been fined $25,000 for violating the NASCAR rulebook this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Francis violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 12-4.3(A)1-c (unapproved added weight and/or weight affixed improperly) of the 2014 rule book. Per NASCAR’s new penalty system, it’s a P3 level penalty. 

Kahne had posted a top 10 time in qualifying, though had to give up that time due to failing post-qualifying technical inspection.

“Basically we had a malfunction with a ballast container,” Francis commented post-qualifying on Saturday. “The cap that holds the ballast in came out. It could be mechanical or human error we are not really sure what happened. At the end of the day 25 pounds of ballast came out and we were 25 pounds light at the scales. The time was disallowed and we will have to start at the back.”

This marks the first penalty in the Sprint Cup Series that has been weight related this year, however other teams have been penalized on the Nationwide Series side this year.

James Buescher’s crew cheif Chris Rice has been fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 while Buescher’s car chief John Guerra was placed on probation till Dec. 31 for violating section 20A-2.3A (weight loss during an event) at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Elliott Sadler’s crew chief Chris Gayle was fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 while Sadler’s  car chief Todd Brewer was placed on probation till Dec. 31 for violating section 20A-2.3A (weight attached in unapproved location) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.