Chase Briscoe’s wonderful opening weekend with Joe Gibbs Racing was spoiled when NASCAR docked Briscoe 100 points and suspended crew chief James Small for four races because of a modification to the spoiler base.
Briscoe, who won the pole and finished fourth in the Daytona 500, now faces a steep climb to make the playoffs unless he wins one of the remaining 25 regular-season races. His point total is minus-67 and he sits 89 points behind the current playoff cutoff. If he does make the playoffs, he will be docked 10 playoff points.
JGR will appeal the penalty.
“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,” JGR said in a statement.
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In other words, the team felt the cause of the pre-drilled holes being modified came from the other supplied parts they use to attach the spoiler base to the car.
Small can start serving his suspension either this weekend at Atlanta or next weekend at Circuit of the Americas or the team, if the appeal is not heard next week, can ask for the suspension to be deferred longer pending appeal.
NASCAR took the Briscoe and Austin Cindric cars — the two cars that were the fastest in single-car qualifying — back to its research and development center after the race Sunday for additional technical inspection. NASCAR typically, but not always, takes a car or two back to its R&D center and totally tears apart the car.
On Briscoe’s car, NASCAR found that the areas where the spoiler base bolts to the deck lid was modified. The spoiler base is a single-source part and teams are not allowed to modify those pieces.
The Cindric car did not have any issues.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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