Dillon RCR team penalized following Martinsville
Austin Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing team was issued an L1 penalty Wednesday after Dillon’s Chevrolet was taken for further inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center and found to have illegal underwing components.
Dillon’s No. 3 was one of two cars taken for inspection after Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway. Dillon finished 12th in the NOCO 400. There were no issues found with the car of Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Preece.
NASCAR cited sections 14.1 C&E&Q of the rule book for the Dillon penalty. The section is “overall assembled vehicle rules,” as well as section 14.6.1 A&D which is “underwing assembly mounting & underwing stay assembly hardware.”
Dillon has been docked 60 championship points and five playoff points. Keith Rodden, his crew chief, has been fined $75,000 and suspended from the next two Cup Series races at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway.
Wednesday’s penalty report also listed the expected two-race suspension for crew members from the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports team. Chris Jackson (rear tire changer) and David Smith (jackman) have been suspended from the events at Talladega and Dover after the right-rear wheel came off of the No. 78 car with less than 100 laps to go Sunday.
Anthony Alfredo, who was driving the car, was held for two laps during the race as the penalty calls for in addition to the suspension. Alfredo finished 35th in the 36-car field.
Additionally, three crew chiefs in the NASCAR Xfinity Series were each fined $5,000 a piece after the Saturday race at Martinsville. One lug nut was not secure on the cars overseen by Mike Bumgarner (Josh Berry), Jeff Meendering (Sammy Smith), and Mike Scearce (Ryan Sieg).
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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