Three Sprint Cup crew chiefs suspended for Coke 600 infractions

The penalties involve several different teams, resulting in the suspension of three crew chiefs.

Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle was the hardest hit of the group. No. 16 crew chief Brian Pattie has been fined $50,000 and suspended from the next two Cup races at Pocono and Michigan. On top of that, the team and driver have lost 15 championship points. There were multiple issues found with Biffle's car, including an unapproved "body design."

RFR will decide in the morning whether to appeal and if not who will step in for Pattie.

Stewart-Haas Racing's Kurt Busch and JTG Daugherty Racing's A.J. Allmendinger have also lost their crew chiefs for Pocono. Both Tony Gibson (Busch) and Randall Burnett (Allmendinger) were fined $20,000 along with their suspensions. The violation? Lug nuts. The No. 41 was cited for having a loose lug nut, while the No. 47 was missing one entirely. They are the second and third teams to get hit by the newly established rule. The first was Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 Kyle Busch team.

Johnny Klausmeier, the 41 team engineer, will be the interim crew chief for Tony Gibson

Allmendinger’s team also was found in violation of rule 12.5.3.4.1 p, which is an identification of a missing lug nut. Busch’s team didn’t violate that rule, meaning its wheel had five lug nuts but was judged to be improperly secured.

All three crew chiefs have been placed on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. A fourth crew chief (Mike Bugarewicz) belonging to Tony Stewart's No. 14 has also been placed on probation until December 31st. Stewart was sent to the rear of the field for the start of Sunday's race due to an unapproved adjustment.

Beyond that, Paul Menard will lose 15 minutes of practice time after failing pre-qualifying inspection three times at Charlotte. Written warnings will also assessed to the No. 20 (Matt Kenseth), No. 43 (Aric Almirola), No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson), and No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.).