Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) have won their appeal attempt in overturning an L2-level penalty levied from NASCAR following this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
On February 19th, Briscoe’s No. 19 JGR Toyota team was issued an L2-level penalty for violating Sections 14.1.C&D&S and 14.5.8.A from the NASCAR Rule Book that pertained to the Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules and Spoiler. The note emphasizes that a single source supplied part was modified, which was the spoiler base and it could not be modified since it is a single-source part. The penalty was issued three days after Briscoe had finished in fourth place from pole position during the Daytona 500 event and where NASCAR took Briscoe’s No. 19 entry to the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further analysis.
As a result, James Small, crew chief for JGR’s No. 19 team, was issued a four-race suspension, which would have spanned through the first half of March, while the No. 19 team was both docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 Playoff points. In addition, the organization was fined $100,000.
Not long after the penalty was levied to JGR, the organization announced intentions to appeal it, which kept Small atop the No. 19 pit box. Exactly two weeks later, the organization prevailed and had their penalties rescinded after the National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled that the organization did not violate any rule(s) within the penalty notice.
Following the ruling of the penalty being overturned, the Appeals Panel released the following statement.
“The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the number 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part.”
The panel members included Mr. Dixon Johnston, Mr. Hunter Nickell and Ms. Cathy Rice.
With the reinstated points, Briscoe, who was initially scored with -28 points, will climb up to tie with Carson Hocevar for 14th place in the 2025 driver’s standings at 72 points apiece.
Briscoe, the 2024 Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, is campaigning in his first Cup season with JGR after spending the previous four driving for the defunct Stewart-Haas Racing organization. He claimed the pole position for this year’s Daytona 500 with a pole-winning lap at 182.745 mph in 49.249 seconds, where he also delivered Toyota’s first pole for the Great American Race. Since finishing in fourth place during the 500-mile season-opening event, Briscoe is coming off respective finishes of 21st and 14th from Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of the Americas, respectively.
With his points reinstated, Chase Briscoe’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The event is scheduled to occur this Sunday, March 9th, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
