NASCAR deals Daytona 500 pole winner massive fine for 2nd consecutive year

Daytona 500 pole-winner Chase Briscoe was dealt a major penalty Wednesday when NASCAR said Joe Gibbs Racing had a modified spoiler on the No. 19 Toyota in time trials.

Joe Gibbs Racing was docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 playoff points. The spoiler base is a single-source part that cannot be modified and was discovered in NASCAR’s inspection process.

JGR also was fined $100,000 and crew chief James Small was suspended for four races. Briscoe now goes to Atlanta Motor Speedway with negative 67 points in the standings. He dropped from 10th in the standings to 39th.

Joe Gibbs Racing said it would appeal and “the issue in question was caused in the assembly process when bolts used to attach the spoiler base to the deck lid caused the pre-drilled holes to wear due to supplied part interferences.”

It is the second consecutive year the Daytona 500 pole-winner has been penalized: Joey Logano was found to have an illegal glove during his qualifying run in 2024.

The Briscoe penalty marks a devastating start to his first season driving for Gibbs. The earliest he can move into positive points is the third race of the season, at Circuit of the Americas.

In other penalties announced Wednesday, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team of Todd Gilliland and No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team of Cody Ware were penalized for a safety violation for added ballast to their cars. Gilliland and Ware were docked 10 driver points and their teams lost 10 owner points.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing