NASCAR announced Wednesday that the sanctioning body has issued warnings to several teams — including five in the Chase for the Sprint Cup — following last weekend’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Most impacted are Chase driver Brad Keselowski and non-Chase driver Tony Stewart who will lose their pit selections for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway as a result of their respective teams accumulating four written warnings.
In streamlining its warning system back in August, NASCAR ruled that every fourth warning a team receives would result in automatic loss of pit selection at the next event.
Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske team received its latest warning for violating Section 20.20.a (installation of components and/or modifications of existing components to affect the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle will be not be permitted) and Section 12.5.3.1.1.c (installation of additional components and/or modifications of existing components that affect the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle that are not explicitly permitted) of the NASCAR rule book.
The championship-eligible team of Charlotte race winner Joey Logano and the non-Chase team of the Wood Brothers’ Ryan Blaney received warnings for the same infractions as Keselowski’s team.
Stewart’s team received three warnings stemming from Charlotte — one for failing pre-race inspection templates too many times, one for failing pre-qualifying inspection too many times, and one for an infraction related to the driver-adjusted track bar. In addition to losing pit selection, Stewart will serve a 15-minute practice deduction at Kansas.
Other teams issued warnings stemming from Charlotte include those of Chase driver Jeff Gordon (failing pre-qualifying inspection too many times) and Chase drivers Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (both for failing pre-race inspection too many times).
The team of non-Chase driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was warned for failing pre-race inspection too many times, while the team of non-Chaser Clint Bowyer received two warnings — one for failing pre-race inspection too many times, and one for failing pre-race inspection templates too many times.
