Not good news for Brad Keselowski.
According to NASCAR, officials have issued a L2-level penalty to Brad Keselowski and the #6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team this morning, penalizing the team 100 driver points and 100 owner points.
Needless to say, this will be quite costly for the postseason.
The penalty came under Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the NASCAR Rule Book, which both align with the modification of a single source supplied part.
On top of the points lost, crew chief Matt McCall was fined $100,000, and will be suspended for the next four NASCAR Cup Series points races. If Brad Keselowski’s number six team car qualifies for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the team will be deducted 10 NASCAR Playoff points.
Prior to Sunday’s race in Atlanta, Keselowski’s #6 car was sent to the rear due to unapproved adjustments.
The violations were discovered during teardown inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center following the race weekend.
The 100-point loss will take Keselowski from 16th to 35th, behind every full-time driver in the field.
NASCAR officials released a more strict penalty structure back in January, with a list of deterrence options on a three-tiered system, from L1 to L3.
Penalty options for a L2 infraction are:
– Points deductions: 75-120 points
– Playoff points deductions: 10-25 points
– Suspension of one or two crewmembers for 4-6 races
– Fines: $100,000-$250,000
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller weighed in on the new penalty adjustments back in February:
“To make sure that all of those things stay above board, there’s going to have to be a culture shift from the way that the teams and NASCAR, for that matter, have done business.
So this deterrence model has more meat in it, more meaningful penalties, but I think we all thought that it was time for this with the introduction of the new car.”
Back of the pack Brad…
