NASCAR suspends Truex crew chief, penalizes several other teams
NASCAR has issued fined and docked points from several Sprint Cup teams today, including Martin Truex Jr., who left Atlanta second in the championship standings after finishing 7th.
Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota
Action Sports Photography
One week after Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief Cole Pearn was placed on probation for a roof flap violation, NASCAR has suspended him for yet another infraction involving the roof flap. The spring on the flap was reportedly out of tolerance on the No. 78 during pre-race technical inspection.
Pearn will have to sit out a single Cup race and will have to pay a $50,000 fine. In addition to this, Truex and team have each been docked 15 driver and owner championship points.
The team plans to appeal the severity of the penalties, saying in the below statement that it was a safety related issue that was immediately rectified and gave them no competitive advantage. Due to the pending appeal, Pearn's suspension has been deferred until the conclusion of the appeal hearing.
Furniture Row Racing Statement
"Due to the severity of the P3 penalty levied against Furniture Row Racing and its crew chief Cole Pearn today (Wednesday), the No. 78 Sprint Cup team has informed NASCAR it will appeal the decision. The infraction, which was immediately corrected following technical inspection at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, was safety related and not competition related. We sincerely appreciate that NASCAR has an appeal process so we can review the level of the penalty." - Joe Garone, president of Furniture Row Racing
FRR was not alone in being reprimanded by NASCAR either. Series officials confiscated the braces from the right rear corner of all three Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets last weekend before the start of the race (No. 3 Austin Dillon, No. 27 Paul Menard, No. 31 Ryan Newman).
Richard Childress Racing and affiliated teams hit with penalties
The confiscated parts were optional brackets used by RCR and were taken to the NASCAR R&D Center in Charlotte for further evaluation. NASCAR announced penalties for those teams today, as well as two other RCR-affiliated organizations: The No. 47 of JTG Daugherty Racing and the No. 95 of Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing.
Randall Burnett, crew chief of the No. 47 A.J. Allmendinger team, has been fined $15,000 and placed on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. Allmendinger and team have also lost 10 championship driver and owner points.
RCR crew chiefs Slugger Labbe (No. 3), Justin Alexander (No. 27) and Luke Lambert (No. 31) have all been fined $15,000 each and placed on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. This penalty also includes No. 95 crew chief Dave Winston.
Lastly, four teams received warnings for failing template inspection on multiple occasions (No. 32 Go FAS Racing, No. 83 BK Racing, No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports, and 98 Premium Motorsports).
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