Following an early-race incident in which the wheel on Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro was improperly secured, NASCAR has handed the crew chief, and two crew members on the Spire Motorsports entry a four-race suspension.
Ryan Sparks (crew chief), Blaine Anderson (front changer), and Allen Holman (jackman) have each been handed four-race penalties from NASCAR, beginning with Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Both Anderson and Holman are members of the backup pit crew for Kyle Larson’s No. 5 in the NASCAR Cup Series, as well as all four of the JR Motorsports teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
For this weekend’s race at Atlanta, Anderson was scheduled to pit Bayley Currey’s No. 4 JD Motorsports entry in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and Thad Moffitt’s No. 43 Reaume Brothers Racing entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Holman was also scheduled to pit Currey’s No. 4 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, while also working on Matt DiBenedetto’s No. 25 Rackley WAR entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Atlanta.
TobyChristie.com has reached out to Spire Motorsports to inquire about the team’s possible appeal of the penalty but has received no response at the time of publishing.
Spire Motorsports is the fourth NASCAR Cup Series organization to be hit with this penalty from NASCAR. The Money Team Racing and Kaulig Racing suffered the same issues at Daytona, while Front Row Motorsports saw a similar issue at Auto Club.
Front Row Motorsports and Kaulig Racing both appealed the penalties from NASCAR, to avoid losing crew members in the week immediately following the penalty, but no verdict has been made public about either appeal.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series – where teams still utilize five lug nut wheels — a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing crew chiefs have been handed monetary fines, following a lug nut being improperly secured in a post-race lug check.
Jason Ratcliff (No. 18) and Jeff Meendering (No. 19) have both been fined $5,000 by NASCAR after violating Sections 8.8.10.4a of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Rule Book, in regards to improperly secured lug nuts.
The No. 19 – driven by Brandon Jones — finished the race in second place, while the No. 18 – driven by Trevor Bayne — finished in fourth.
One Response
This is a Bull$#it rule. No team in NASCAR would deliberately put a tire on wrong. This rule penalizes human error. Accidentally putting your team’s car in last place is adequate penalty. The purpose of NASCAR rules is to stop cheating, right? I don’t call this cheating. It is a physical error. The tire crew did not do this to gain any advantage. It’s double indemnity. Suspension of tire team members will not stop the action. It’s an accident for God’s sake. I would have to resign if I was the tire guy. Every time I tried to change a tire I’d do it again out of fear……….These guys a stronger than that, but still, How many “perfect” pit stops are there? Things happen. Someone needs to explain the term “overkill” to the Competition Division of those “officials”