Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer each will be without their crew chiefs for next weekend’s playoff race at Richmond Raceway. Both crew chiefs will be suspended one race because their cars each had two lug nuts not safe and secure after Sunday night’s Southern 500.
NASCAR inspects lug nuts after each race. If two lug nuts are not safe and secure, the crew chief is suspended one race and fined $20,000.
Busch will be without Adam Stevens. Bowyer will be without Johnny Klausmeier.
Bowyer goes to Richmond outside a transfer spot to the second round. He’s tied with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola for the final transfer spot but Almirola owns the tiebreaker of a better finish in this round. Almirola finished ninth Sunday. Bowyer placed 10th.
Busch is 10th in points. He’s seven points ahead of Almirola and Bowyer.
NASCAR also announced that the cars of William Byron and winner Kevin Harvick each had one lug nut not safe and secure. That is a $10,000 fine only to the crew chief.
Also, NASCAR stated that they would take the cars of Harvick, runner-up Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Alex Bowman back to the R&D Center for review. NASCAR takes cars back to the R&D Center to examine trends and what teams are doing. Such inspections are information-gathering only and not to further investigate for any potential penalties.
Before the race, NASCAR suspended Ryan Blaney’s crew chief, Todd Gordon, for the race, docked the team 10 points and had Blaney start at the rear for improperly mounted ballast.
