NASCAR revealed the penalty report following this past weekend’s events between Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and the Streets of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida. The only penalty that was issued was to Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team.
During the Cup Series’ event at COTA, Chastain drew a late-race caution with 21 laps remaining when he went off the course in between Turns 19 and 20. Amid Chastain’s incident, his right-rear wheel detached from the entry. Chastain, who started on the front row and led four laps, settled in 35th place of the 37-car field following his loose wheel incident.
As a result of the loose wheel, Kenneth Pozega, Chastain’s rear-tire changer, and Josh Appleby, Chastain’s jackman, have been suspended from participating in the next two scheduled Cup events. Their infractions fall under Sections 8.8.10.4.A&D from the NASCAR rule book, which highlights the loss and separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from a vehicle during an event.
No other penalties were levied towards the remaining Cup Series teams, nor from Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ event at COTA and Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series’ inaugural event at St. Petersburg.
The Craftsman Truck Series enters a two-week break period before returning to action at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 that will occur on March 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action Saturday, March 7, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the GOVX 200 that will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN and SiriusXM. The NASCAR Cup Series will also compete at Phoenix for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on Sunday, March 8, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
