The racing body isn’t letting the matter rest. Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, has already put Trackhouse Racing on notice, confirming a sit-down with team leadership to dissect the eyebrow-raising incident. Additionally, crew chiefs from across the garage will receive a fresh round of guidance, ensuring that there is no wiggle room left in the rulebook. Moran warned, “It certainly caught our radar. Where we see that, they can be pretty comfortable knowing it won’t go unnoticed.” And just as the garage dissects that message, Bristol looms on the horizon, and another NASCAR insider is sounding off.

This latest flare-up came after what was already a bruising race for Justin Marks’ Trackhouse Racing. Ross Chastain managed only a 24th-place finish, Shane van Gisbergen wound up 25th, and teammate Daniel Suarez saw his day cut short with a 35th-place DNF. But it was their detour across the grass before reaching pit road that really lit up conversations, raising suspicions that they might have been trying to scoop up blades of grass, dirt, or leftover rubber in bed to sneak extra ounces onto the scales. On the cooldown lap, both drivers swerved off course and tore through the grass, a move that immediately set the garage and fan base buzzing. The chatter? The pair might have been trying to outsmart post-race inspections by picking up extra debris to pad their car’s weight. 

No penalties were handed out in the aftermath, but NASCAR made it clear the situation isn’t being swept under the rug. Officials confirmed that they will sit down with Trackhouse Racing management and the crew chief to hammer home the rules and ensure everyone’s on the same page moving forward. Speaking on NASCAR Live, Mike Forde didn’t hesitate to send out a message loud and clear: “So as far as trying to pick up debris and things like that, that’s probably going to be too difficult. That’s probably going to be a bridge too far for us.”

“I think we’ll look at it, but I think that’s going to be something that we’ll have to live with. But as far as pancaking the wall or running through grass — there’s no grass in Bristol, so this won’t be a problem this weekend — that is going to be something that we will frown upon in a significant way. What that way is, is TBD. So whether that is going to be an increased penalty or DQ, that is going to be determined after the epidemic.”

A disqualification from the race could definitely serve as a lesson to the teams not to mess with NASCAR rules. Forde pulled no punches, admitting that the teams are dancing on a knife’s edge, stretching the rulebook to its thinnest thread. Every ounce, every fraction is under the microscope within NASCAR’s razor-thin 17-pound post-race tolerance. At Darlington, inspectors caught cars hanging by a thread, just a single pound away from a disqualification that could have flipped the standings on their head.

He added, “These teams are pushing it so close to the line on weight. They know exactly how to math it out, where we give them a 17-pound tolerance after the race. In Darlington, we measured every single playoff car, and there were a couple of cars that were within a pound of almost failing and being DQ’d.”

With the playoffs inching closer, teams, including Trackhouse, will look for ways to put their cars on top of the standings, and that is exactly why the playoff cars go under inspection. Amanda, co-host of the NASCAR Live podcast, summed it up perfectly. She said, “So it’s interesting. I think — I might have been out of the race at the end of the event, yeah, so still didn’t. Not all Trackhouse cars were running. However, you know, it’s like I always say — it’s slightly fishy. When it’s the playoff cars, they know they’re getting checked, and they just happen to run through the grass in the same manner, with no one putting them in the grass. So that is my Team Sheriff read of the episode.” 

With no further information received on this, the teams will be sitting tight as NASCAR revises the rules with them. And now, as Trackhouse Racing finds itself in the middle of it all, SVG and Ross Chastain are set to face a challenging race at Bristol.

Ross Chastain fights to stay alive as SVG faces a Bristol showdown

Bristol’s short track circus is a daunting stage, and Ross Chastain finds himself squarely in the crosshairs of the playoff pressure cooker. With +3000 odds to win the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, he is a long shot, but not entirely off the board. Chastain currently sits 11th in the playoff standings, with a 19-point cushion. A strong finish, especially a top 10, would dramatically boost his Round 12 momentum, especially considering how sensitive his playoff leverage is: a top 10 finish could gain him +29 points, while a tumble outside the top 30 could cost him -27.

On the other side of the garage sits Trackhouse Racing’s rookie SVG. Suddenly, the wildcard is in a must-win moment. Despite four impressive road courses and a hefty cache of playoff points, Shane van Gisbergen is currently 14th, trailing the cut line by 15 points. This stall doesn’t exactly play to his strength; he had only one Cup start there earlier this year, which ended in a 38th-place retirement due to handling issues. Expert eyes aren’t optimistic; one prediction model lists his likely Bristol result again around 38th, effectively spelling elimination unless a miracle happens.

Still, SVG isn’t out of fairytale territory just yet, despite making his sober opinions on Bristol. Racing history shows that drivers with hefty playoff point reserves have navigated early struggles before. Names like William Byron in 2024 and Kyle Busch in 2021 have rallied from shaky openings, leveraging playoff points and delivering a clutch performance at Bristol to push through. For SVG, it’s a desperate, high-stakes equation: perform or pack it up. Will he rise to the challenge, or will Bristol mark the end of his playoff run?