While they didn’t get the entire penalty overturned, Wednesday’s appeal in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel was a success for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 RFK Racing team.
The driver and team appealed an L1-level penalty, which had been assessed to them following their car being randomly selected for further inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center after the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway earlier this month.
Following the appeal on Wednesday, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, which was comprised of Tom DeLoach, Cary Tharrington, and Kevin Whitaker, concluded that the No. 17 RFK Racing team did violate Section 14.1.C, and 14.5.4.G of the NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, which pertains to the Front Bumper Cover of the car, as alleged by NASCAR.
However, the Panel concluded that the team did not violate section 14.1.2.B of the NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, which pertains to the Exhaust Cover Panel.
As a result, the Appeals Panel amended the penalties handed out to Buescher and the No. 17 team. Instead of a deduction of 60 championship driver and 60 championship owner points, Buescher and his team will only lose 30 driver and 30 owner points.
This will move Buescher from 23rd in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings to 16th.
The remainder of the original penalties — the deduction of five Playoff Points, a two-race suspension for crew chief Scott Graves, and a $75,000 fine — were upheld.
The Appeals Panel issued a statement explaining its decision following Wednesday’s appeal, which read, “The panel concluded that NASCAR met its burden of proof regarding the reinforcement of the front bumper cover but did not meet it regarding the trimming of the exhaust panel cover. The rule book regarding the exhaust panel trimming lacked specificity on the amount trimmed or not trimmed. Accordingly, the Panel reduced the owner and driver points penalty from 60 to 30 points.”
