NASCAR Slaps Penalties for Multiple Cup Series Teams for Technical Infringements

Following the Cup Series race at New Hampshire, NASCAR officials cracked down heavily on several teams. In other words, at least six Cup Series teams received post-race penalties after the race.

Unfortunately for the Stewart-Haas Racing team, they drew the short straw and the harshest punishment. The No. 14 Crew Chief, Johnny Klausmeier, received a one-race suspension for technical infringements.

Apparently, Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford failed post-race inspection because of unsafe lug nuts. The good news was that Bowyer was able to keep his 18th-place finish at the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301.

Unfortunately, Klausmeier did not get away as easily and copped a $20,000 fine. In addition to that, he received a suspension from the next Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

According to an updated entry list for Saturday’s Michigan race, Greg Zipadelli will take over for Klausmeier. Truthfully, Bowyer is in good hands because Zipadelli won two Cup Series Championships as Tony Stewart’s Crew Chief.

This isn’t his first gig in the capacity of a substitute Crew Chief either, having filled in for Richard Boswell after his own suspension. On that occasion, he helped guide Chase Briscoe to three NASCAR Xfinity Series wins.

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It is worth noting that three other Crew Chiefs also suffered the same fate as Klausmeier. However, they got $10,000 fines after their cars turned up with at least one lug nut secured in an unsafe manner.

The victims were Brad Keselowski’s Crew Chief, Jeremy Bullins, followed by Tyler Reddick’s Crew Chief, Randall Burnett, and Martin Truex Jr’s Crew Chief, James Small.

However, the stewards were not finished dishing out penalties, as two teams got L1-grade penalties. As it turned out, both of them had an improperly mounted ballast, and this was discovered during the pre-race inspection.

The guilty parties were Corey LaJoie’s No. 32 Ford and Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Chevrolet.

In light of this, they received a deduction of 10 Championship points deductions in the Drivers’ and Team Owners’ standings. In addition, the respective Crew Chiefs got the pink slips. And the cars had to drop to the rear of the field for the start.

SOURCE- Yahoo! Sports