Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
NASCAR was busy on Wednesday afternoon handing down P3 penalties to three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams stemming from violations this past weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which has resulted in three crew chiefs receiving at least a one race suspension.
The Roush Fenway No.16 team of Greg Biffle, the No.41 Stewart Haas Racing team of Kurt Busch, and the No.47 JTG Daugherty team of AJ Allmendinger were the teams hit with the violations NASCAR handed down.
Biffle’s penalty was the most severe. Multiple infractions were found during post-race inspection, including a body design that was either not submitted to NASCAR for approval or did not comply with the approved body designs. Biffle’s crew chief Brian Pattie has been fined $50,000 and suspended for the next two Sprint Cup Series races. The team will also lose 15 drivers and owners points.
Allmendinger’s crew chief Randall Burnett and Busch’s crew chief Tony Gibson were each fined $20,000 and suspended for this weekend’s race at Pocono for failing to have all five lug nuts secured on each wheel following post race wheel checks at Charlotte.
Tony Stewart’s No.14 team was also hit with a P2 penalty for infractions found during pre race inspection last weekend at Charlotte. Stewart’s P2 penalty included infractions in body design and surface conformance found during pre-race inspection. His crew chief, Mike Bugarewicz, has been placed on probation through Dec. 31.
Busch is second in points to his teammate Kevin Harvick through 13 races this season. Busch’s 11 top ten finishes leads all drivers in the Sprint Cup Series this season.
Biffle’s penalty will drop him from 23rd place in the standings to 24th, behind Danica Patrick.
Allmendinger was 16th on Sunday, and he’s currently one point behind Ryan Newman in the battle for the final spot in the 16-driver Chase Grid.
