On Wednesday NASCAR officials handed released their weekly penalty report to include an L1 level penalty for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott and members of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 team. Crew chief (Alan Gustafson) has been fined $50,000. Car chief (Josh Kirk) has been suspended for the next two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Points Events. Team has been assessed with the loss of 25 owner points and 25 driver points. According to the penalty report the team failed to comply with a rear suspension rule which reads “Truck Trailing Arm Spacers/Pinion Angle Shims e. Notes: 6. Truck trailing arm spacer/pinion angle shim mating surfaces must be planar and must be in complete contact with corresponding mating surfaces at all points and at all times.” In layman’s terms failure to meet the rule could result in additional side force. Elliott finished third in Sunday’s race at ISM Speedway; the penalty drops him from 16th to 23rd in driver point standings. Hendrick Motorsports announced late Wednesday they will appeal the penalty. Additionally, five other teams faced lug nut penalties including Denny Hamlin’s No. 11, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s No. 17, Joey Logano’s No. 22, and Martin Truex, Jr.’s No. 78. The crew chief for each team was fined $10,000.
