
NASCAR: Multiple rule infractions caught after the race
NASCAR discovered a plethora of post-race technical infractions on Sunday night after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway involving race winner Martin Truex Jr. and laps-led leader Jimmie Johnson.
Related Stories
NASCAR's new rule book language
that allows the sanctioning body to strip away the benefits of a victory if certain conditions occur.NASCAR has a policy to not take wins away from a team but can strip a victor of their bonus points or playoff round advancement if a violation appeared egregious and intentional. This was not the case for the race-winning No. 78 team.
The penalty could involve a reduction of championship points, which could prove costly to Johnson who left Chicagoland eighth in the championship standings and just nine markers ahead of Tony Stewart – the occupant the final provisional advancement spot in the Chase for the Championship.
Truex called the system into question after the race, telling NBC Sports he didn't think the laser inspection system was consisent.
“It’s just crazy how that works,” he said. “We could probably go across that thing four times a day and get four different readings, so it’s a little frustrating, especially from our side of it – when people think that you’ve got a win and your car is illegal.
“One side is fine, and the way it read this time was the left rear was good, and the right rear was off. Usually, if the right rear is off, the left rear is off. So there’s a lot of weird stuff going on there with that machine, and it’s a little bit frustrating, for sure. At the end of the day, we need to make sure that the stuff doesn’t happen, and we’ll just have to be a little bit more conservative coming forward.”
Truex called the rule modification "the right thing to do."
“We don’t want somebody going to (the championship round) having a car that’s going to have a half-inch of extra skew in it during the race or after the race just to go out and win, so I think the rule is where it needs to be," he said. “I just wish we could figure out how to make the readings on that LIS machine a little bit more consistent.”
Additionally, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola were each missing a single lug nut when their car was inspected by NASCAR officials on pit road after the event.
Under the new rules, one missing lug nut will no longer result in a crew chief suspension. Instead, it will warrant a fine between $10,000-$20,000. Two missing lug nuts will warrant a crew chief suspension, a loss of 15 points and a $20,000 fine.
Three missing lug nuts will be left up to NASCAR's discretion to see if it should result in an encumbered finish. It will also result in the crew chief getting suspended for three races while receiving a $65,000 fine.
Lastly, Kyle Busch failed the LIS station on his first pass-through but came up green on his second and final attempt so there will be no action taken against the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.


