On Wednesday morning, NASCAR distributed L2-level penalties to Hendrick Motorsports’ four Cup Series teams for unapproved parts modifications to the cars that raced last weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
The No. 31 Kaulig Racing team was also issued the same penalty.
The drivers involved in the penalty are Sunday’s winner William Byron, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman and Justin Haley. Their crew chiefs have been fined $100,000 and will be suspended for the next four races — including Rudy Fugle (Byron), Cliff Daniels (Larson), Alan Gustafson (Berry), Blake Harris (Bowman) and Trent Owens (Haley).
Each team has also lost 100 driver points, 100 owner points and 10 playoff points. As Berry is a replacement driver for Chase Elliott, who is recovering from a leg injury, the No. 9 was not docked driver points.
This post-race penalty is related to NASCAR’s confiscation of the hood louvers on the No. 5, No. 9, No. 24 and No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports cars, as well as Kaulig’s No. 31 Xfinity Series entry, previous to last Sunday’s race.
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The issues were originally discovered during inspection at Phoenix Raceway last Friday.
The teams were permitted to run the hood louvers during the 50-minute practice session at on Friday night, but NASCAR then took and transported the louvers to the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., for further inspection. Hendrick installed replacement louvers before the race and passed technical inspection.
However, it was determined that Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing modified a single-source, vendor-supplied part on the original louvers. Sections 14.5.4.2.A from the NASCAR Rule Book, which concerns radiator ducts, were referenced when the penalty was dealt.
In addition, Denny Hamlin was penalized for violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct.