UPDATE (Thursday, March 7th at 12:20 PM ET):
After being assessed a mid-week penalty by NASCAR — for an improperly secured wheel at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — RFK Racing has decided to appeal the suspension of crew members Jakob Prall and Nicholas Patterson, which was set to begin this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
The organization has chosen to defer the suspensions for the two crew members, which means both Prall and Patterson will be present at Phoenix Raceway, and depending on the timing of the NASCAR hearing for the appeal, potentially even Bristol.
A decision will be made by NASCAR in due course.
Following an action-packed tripleheader weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR has released its penalty report, which for this week features no unexpected penalties carrying major points penalties or fines, but does feature a pair of suspensions for one NASCAR Cup Series pit crew.
As expected, NASCAR has assessed a two-race suspension to Jakob Prall and Nicholas Patterson — the front changer and jackman on the No. 17 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series — which will keep them out of the action for the series events at Phoenix Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
For the impacted crew members, Circuit of The Americas (COTA) will be the site of the crew’s return to normalcy.
The penalty stems from a single-car incident in the early portion of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400, when Chris Buescher, who had just taken two tires on his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse, had the right-front wheel come detached from his RFK Racing machine.
Upon losing the right front wheel, Buescher darted up the racetrack and slammed the outside wall, putting an early end to his afternoon in Las Vegas, Nevada, retiring from the event short of the race’s first scheduled stage break due to extensive damage.
As of the time of publishing this story, RFK Racing had yet to name interim pit crew members for Buescher’s No. 17 Ford Mustang, nor did the team’s roster reflect any of these changes.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, three crew chiefs have been handed monetary fines after their vehicles failed to have all 20 lugnuts secured properly. Phillip Bell and Andrew Abbott, who serve as crew chiefs for Brandon Jones and Leland Honeyman, respectively, have been fined $5,000 for the infraction in the Xfinity Series garage. Meanwhile, in the NASCAR Truck Series garage, Joe Shear, Jr., crew chief for Ty Majeski, has been fined $2,500.
