After starting from the outside of the front row and winning Stage 1, Ross Chastain was in position to have a great day the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Unfortunately, while in contention for a top ten following the final green-flag pit stop of the day, Chastain’s car spun wildly on entry to what is Turn 19 on the full course layout, tearing through the gravel as the right-rear wheel detached. Chastain kept his foot on the throttle and managed not to get stuck, driving the car back to the pit lane. However, the now detached wheel was lying on the ground, and forced the only natural caution during the entire race.
As a result, NASCAR held Chastain for two laps on pit road as part of a standard in-race penalty. He finished 35th, never able to get those laps back as the rest of the race ran green.
NASCAR has now issues more penalties, suspended both jackman Josh Appleby and rear tire changer Kenneth Pozega on the #1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
They will miss this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway, as well as next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
These penalties are all in the name of safety, but since the implementation of the Next Gen car in 2022, there have been around 60 loose wheel penalties issued by the Sanctioning Body, and this is the first time it’s ever happened to the No. 1 team.
Per the weekly penalty report from NASCAR, this was the only penalty for the entire weekend of Cup/O’Reilly at COTA and Trucks at St. Pete.
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