Brad Keselowski’s team hit with massive penalty for illegally modifying Next Gen car part – CBS Sports
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NASCAR announced Thursday morning that they have assessed a major penalty to Brad Keselowski and the RFK Racing No. 6 team after discovering that the team had modified a single-source supplied part for the Next Gen car. The infraction was discovered after NASCAR had taken Keselowski’s No. 6 back to their Research & Development Center following the Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier in March.
Keselowski has been docked 100 driver points and 10 playoff points, and RFK Racing has been docked 100 owner points. Crew chief Matt McCall has been suspended for the next four Cup Series races.
The penalties to Keselowski and his race team fall under Sections 14.1 of the NASCAR rulebook (C&D Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules; 14.5 A&D Body Note: Modification of a single source supplied part), with the infraction rising to the level of an L2 penalty. RFK Racing is the first team to be penalized under a stricter penalty system introduced by NASCAR this year, which outlined severe sanctions for modifying parts on the Next Gen car supplied by a single source.
RFK Racing’s penalty for illegally modifying a Next Gen part comes several weeks after the team avoided penalty for doing something similar in the leadup to the Daytona 500. NASCAR had found evidence that RFK Racing had reamed their wheels after confiscating them, but the adjustments had been permitted under Section 14.1.N. of the NASCAR rulebook.
The 100-point penalty to Keselowski now drops him from 16th in the Cup Series points standings all the way to 35th. Keselowski had finished 12th at Atlanta.