NASCAR: Chase Briscoe’s #98 team dealt massive penalties
By Asher Fair
Members of Chase Briscoe’s #98 team have been dealt massive penalties after their issue ahead of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While he was able to rally from six laps off the lead lap to finish in seventh place and in the lead pack in Saturday’s Hooters 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe did not have the best of races.
The afternoon started off with at least one piece of ballast falling from Briscoe’s #98 Ford during the pace laps leading into the 167-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Homestead, Florida.
Despite his rally, that issue ultimately had huge implications for the #98 team as far as penalties are concerned.
According to Section 12.5.2.7.4.d of the NASCAR Rule Book: “Loss or separation of added ballast from the vehicle will result in a four Race suspension of the crew chief, car chief, and head engineer. If NASCAR cannot identify which series or vehicle the lost ballast originated from, all vehicles entered for that Event from and associated with the team organization identified on the lost ballast may receive the suspensions.”
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As a result, #98 team crew chief Richard Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer D.J. Vanderley have been suspended for four races each.
The series is set to be back in action at Homestead-Miami Speedway today, and the next three races on the schedule are scheduled to take place at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, June 20, at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 28 and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Saturday, July 4. These crew members will be eligible to return for the race at Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, July 9.
A similar incident took place in the Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway three weeks ago when more than one piece of ballast fell from the #11 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin before the race, and NASCAR penalized the #11 team accordingly.
Crew chief Chris Gabehart, car chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons were suspended for the next four Cup Series points races. Having now missed the last four races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, they are all set to return for today’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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The Contender Boats 250 Xfintiy Series race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET while the Dixie Vodka 400 Cup Series race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.