NASCAR: Chase Elliott issued major penalty after New Hampshire

Chase Elliott and the #9 Hendrick Motorsports team have been issued a major penalty following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott scored 32 points in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with finishes of third and sixth place in the first two stages and an 18th place finish in the race.

But that total has been reduced to seven, as for the second time in the last six races, Elliott has been issued a significant post-race penalty, this time for an engine-allocation infraction involving both the #9 team and the #48 team of Alex Bowman.

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Unlike at Nashville Superspeedway, when he was completely disqualified from the race, he will still keep his result. However, because the #9 team was found in violation of Section 20.6.1.e in the NASCAR Rule Book, which covers engine assembly, he was docked 25 points in the driver standings, and the #9 team was also docked 25 points in the owner standings.

The penalty report states the following, according to NASCAR:

"“When the long block is sealed, the engine must be used in the same vehicle number the next time it is used.”"

The same penalty was issued to Bowman and the #48 team, as it was a race-winning engine of the #9 team that was found in the #48 Chevrolet. Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and Bowman’s crew chief, Greg Ives, were each fined $50,000.

Additionally, both Hendrick Motorsports executive vice president and general manager Jeff Andrews and the organization’s director of track engine support Scott Maxim were issued one-race suspensions.

Here is what Hendrick Motorsports officials had to say about the matter.

"“Due to an administrative error, one of our sealed engines assigned to the No. 9 car was unintentionally allocated to our No. 48 team at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Although the engine passed technical inspection and absolutely no competitive advantage was gained, we acknowledge NASCAR’s process was not followed correctly in this instance. The rules regarding the assignment of sealed engines are clear, and we understand and respect their decision to issue a penalty. We apologize for the mistake and have taken steps to ensure it will not be repeated.”"