NASCAR
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota Found with Modified Spoiler, James Small Suspended Four Races
Following in-depth inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center after the Daytona 500, an irregularity was found on the No. 19 Toyota Camry. Chase Briscoe’s car was found to have an illegal modification on the single-source supplied spoiler, resulting in an L2 penalty. As a result of this coming to light, crew chief James Small has been suspended for the next four races.
The violations were Sections 14.1.C&D&S, dealing with the Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules, and 14.5.8.A, referring to the spoiler.
The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team has additionally lost 100 driver and owner points, as well as forfeited 10 Playoff points. The team was also fined $100,000. This drops Briscoe into negative points, putting him last in the championship with -67 points. After starting the Daytona 500 from pole, Briscoe did earn a fourth-place result in Sunday’s Great American Race.
Joe Gibbs Racing has released a statement saying they do plan to appeal this NASCAR ruling. Their release also specifies that the issue surrounded bolts going from the spoiler to the deck lid caused pre-drilled holes to wear because of interference from supplied parts.
Other penalties from the Daytona 500 were incurred in pre-qualifying inspection by the Nos. 34 and 51 teams. Todd Gilliland’s Front Row Motorsports crew was found with ballast weight not secured inside a proper container, netting a loss of 10 driver and owner points. The Rick Ware Racing team had the same issue and faces the same sanction.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
