Kenny Bruce|NASCAR.com
NASCAR officials have suspended crew chief Cole Pearn for one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race and fined the Furniture Row Racing employee $50,000 for a rules violation that took place during last week’s race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In addition, driver Martin Truex Jr. has been penalized 15 championship driver points and team owner Barney Visser has been penalized 15 championship owner points.
The infraction, which involved the roof flap(s), was found during pre-race inspection for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at AMS.
According to a statement from Furniture Row Racing, the organization will appeal the penalty:
“Due to the severity of the P3 penalty levied against Furniture Row Racing and its crew chief Cole Pearn today (Wednesday), the No. 78 Sprint Cup team has informed NASCAR it will appeal the decision. The infraction, which was immediately corrected following technical inspection at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, was safety related and not competition related. We sincerely appreciate that NASCAR has an appeal process so we can review the level of the penalty.”
Because the team is appealing the penalty, Pearn’s suspension and fine are temporarily deferred until the matter is heard.
The Furniture Row team was one of 10 Sprint Cup teams either fined or the recipients of warnings at Atlanta.
The loss of points drops Truex from second to ninth heading into this weekend’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Randall Burnett, crew chief of the No. 47 JTG Daugherty entry with driver AJ Allmendinger, has been fined $15,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 in addition to the loss of 10 championship driver and owner points. The team was penalized for rear wheel crush panel issues that came to light during pre-qualifying inspection on Friday.
Allmendinger falls from 26th to 30th with the points deduction.
Richard Childress Racing crew chiefs Slugger Labbe (No. 3), Justin Alexander (No. 27) and Luke Lambert (No. 31), as well as crew chief Dave Winston (No. 95 Circle Sport Leavine Family Racing), have also been fined $15,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 while also losing 10 championship owner and driver points.
According to the penalty report, those teams were in violation of Rule 20.4 e — Unless otherwise stated, all body attachment mounts and supports used to connect body components to the chassis must be constructed of magnetic steel round tubing with a minimum outside diameter of 0.168 inch and a maximum outside diameter of 0.5 inch. All body attachment mounts and supports must be non-adjustable and completely welded at both ends.
Four teams received warnings for failing template inspection on multiple occasions (Nos. 32, 83, 88 and 98).
The No. 32 Go Fas Racing with driver Jeffrey Earnhardt failed template inspection (pre-qualifying) three times; in addition to a written warning, the team will lose 15 minutes of practice time.
The No. 83 BK Racing entry with driver Matt DiBenedetto, the No. 88Hendrick Motorsports entry of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 98 of Cole Whitt(Premium Motorsports) failed template inspection twice (pre-qualifying) and received written warnings.
Truex finished second to Denny Hamlin at Daytona in the closest finish in the history of that event (0.01 second). Sunday at Atlanta, Truex finished seventh and was second in points through the season’s first two races.
Pearn, 33, was placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2016, following this year’s season-opening Daytona 500 for an infraction regarding the roof flap(s) on the No. 78 Toyota before Coors Pole Award qualifying.
The team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time to allow Truex to make a qualifying attempt.
Pearn said of the Daytona issue that the roof flap was “propped up too much” and rather than correct the problem on the grid, officials “wanted us to put (the car) back through templates before we adjusted it. We just didn’t have time to get back there and do that before we got back out.”
In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, crew chief Danny Stockman (RCR No. 2 Chevrolet) was fined $5,000 (rear alignment measurement issues).
Six NXS teams received written warnings for failing LIS twice during pre-race inspection — JR Motorsports No. 1 (Elliott Sadler), RCR No. 3 (Ty Dillon) and No. 33 (Brandon Jones), Kaulig Racing No. 11 (Blake Koch), JGL Racing No. 24 (Corey Lajoie) and Jeremy Clements Racing No. 51 (Jeremy Clements).
One NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team was penalized post-Atlanta — the No. 86 Brandon Brown Racing Chevrolet with driver Brandon Brown. The team received a written warning for a truck trailing arm that did not meet specifications.
