NASCAR penalizes Hendrick's Alex Bowman and William Byron 60 points for car modifications at Richmond
It's the second time in less than a month that NASCAR has handed out points penalties against Hendrick cars
The Hendrick Motorsports cars of Alex Bowman and William Byron received their second penalties of the season on Thursday.
NASCAR announced that both Bowman and Byron’s cars had illegal modifications to the area where the windows and windshield are on the cars after an inspection following Sunday’s race at Richmond. The two drivers have been penalized 60 points and five playoff points.
It’s the second penalty in less than a month for both the Nos. 24 and 48 cars after NASCAR penalized each of Hendrick’s four cars 100 regular-season points and 10 playoff points for louver modifications at Phoenix. Hendrick appealed those penalties and was able to get the points penalties overturned last week though the fines and crew chief suspensions that accompanied the points penalties stayed in place.
NASCAR’s penalty reports do not detail the specific allegations against teams and instead simply cite the section of the rule book that’s allegedly been violated. In this instance, NASCAR cited a violation of rule 14.5.6.B in its penalty report and the 14.5.6 rule references the assembly of the windshield and windows of the car. The 14.5.6.2.B rule states that windshield supports must be used and that “Installed supports must keep the windshield rigid in all directions and must remain in contact with the inner windshield surface and chassis at all times during an event.”
Byron led 117 of the races 400 laps and finished 24th after a late race crash. Bowman, the Cup Series points leader, finished eighth after starting first.
The penalties drop Bowman to seventh in the points standings and make Ross Chastain the points leader while Byron drops to 14th.
Cars were selected to go back to NASCAR’s R&D Center
Hendrick Motorsports said after the penalties were announced that it would make a decision to appeal after the upcoming race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The infractions on the Bowman and Byron cars were found at NASCAR’s research and development center. NASCAR typically selects a car or two to go back for further inspection after a race and while those selections are publicly declared to be random, it’s not a stretch to believe that many in the garage feel that cars are “randomly” chosen to go back to the R&D center for various reasons of NASCAR’s choosing.
Bowman and Byron's teammates Kyle Larson and Josh Berry finished first and second at Richmond. As is customary, their cars were inspected at the track. Larson and Berry's cars passed post-race inspection, but it's imperative to note that NASCAR officials can take a much more thorough look at cars at the R&D center versus an at-track inspection in the moments after a race.
The race at Richmond was also the first race after Hendrick’s successful appeal of the Phoenix penalties. NASCAR confiscated the louvers on the hood of the Hendrick cars ahead of the Phoenix race weekend and NASCAR penalized the team — along with Kaulig Racing — in the days after the race. Hendrick said that the issues with the louvers stemmed from inconsistent parts from NASCAR’s approved parts supplier.
That case appeared to sway the appeals panel enough to overturn the points penalty against Hendrick’s cars on March 29. NASCAR said after the decision that it was disappointed in the outcome against it given the appeals panel kept the fines and crew chief suspensions in place.
