Busch penalized for failing inspection
Six – that's how many points Kyle Busch was docked after his car failed post-race inspection following Sunday's 5-hour Energy 500.
Busch wheeled the car to a third-place finish, but afterward NASCAR officials found the left front of the car to be too low. NASCAR took the car back to its R&D center and reacted quickly – docking Busch and team owner Joe Gibbs six championship and owner points, respectively, and fining crew chief Dave Rogers $25,000.
"We brought the No. 18 car back to our race shop and have identified the problem which caused us to measure low during the post-race inspection process in Pocono," Gibbs said in a statement. "We have made NASCAR aware of our findings and we accept the penalty they have issued today."
In a big-picture view, the penalty doesn't hurt Busch much. He maintains his fifth-place spot in the standings, though now leads brother Kurt by just four points. Even if Busch were to slide out of the top 10, he's still a virtual lock to make the Chase by way of his two wins.
More significant is the setting of a precedent, as this is the first penalty handed down since NASCAR changed to a new points system this season. Under the old system, an infraction such as this one usually resulted in a 25-point penalty – roughly equivalent to five or six finishing spots in a race. Under the new 1-43 system, it equates to exactly six spots.
