NASCAR on Tuesday suspended more than six Cup Series and Xfinity Series crew members for various violations last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Pit crew members Calvin Teague and Brandon Johnson of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Kyle Larson have been suspended for the next two races due to anticipated penalties.
Teague and Johnson are suspended during Sunday’s race after Larson’s tire came off during a precautionary measure and sent him off the track. Several security-related lockdowns were also imposed. No. 17 RFK Racing Ford team crew member Zachary Yeager has been disqualified from this weekend’s race at Talladega for using unapproved protective gloves. Jacob Holmes of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team and Doug Warrick of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 Chevrolet team are both suspended from the Talladega race for use of unapproved helmets on pit road. Earlier this season, Cup driver Joey Logano was forced to give up his second place starting position at Atlanta and was fined $10,000 for the use of an unapproved driver glove.
In the Xfinity Series, Brandon Harder of JR Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet team has been suspended from the Talladega race for use of an approved safety apron. The No. 9 team’s crew chief, Patrick Donahue, was fined $5,000 because the car was found to have an improperly installed lug nut after Saturday’s race. In the Truck Series, crew chief Chris Carrier of the No. 75 team was suspended and also fined $5,000 because the truck was found to have two improperly installed lug nuts after Friday night’s race. Additionally, RCR’s Cup Series pit crew member Nicholas Covey has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR racing for violating the sport’s substance abuse policy.
BLANEY “GUILTY AS CHARGED” IN RUN-IN WITH PREECE AT TEXAS
Ryan Blaney may not be happy with the final result, but he said he understands Ryan Preece’s actions in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Blaney, the reigning series champion, looks to be in good shape and should be in contention for the win after finishing sixth and third in the first two stages of the race.
However, as the final stage began, Blaney and Preece made contact and fought for position on the track. Finally, on lap 181 of 276, Preece rammed Blaney hard into Turn 2, sending Blaney’s No. 12 Ford crashing into the wall. The accident caused Blaney to drop out of the race, limping and finishing 33rd. Preece continued on, eventually finishing 12th. This was the second best result of the 2024 season. On Tuesday, Blaney explained what happened before the accident on a Zoom call with reporters. “I couldn’t see anything on TV,” he said. “In (Turns) 3 and 4, I took advantage of that and kind of ran up the race track. I pushed him further than I planned.” “I had planned to give myself space, but I ended up provoking him more than I intended and threw him off balance. “He was rightfully upset with that. I would have been too, and then he got to me a lap later and got into me pretty good. In my mind, I deserved to get used up, for sure, for what I did. “I was guilty as charged, but I don’t know if I deserved to get junked for what I did, but it’s just one of those racing things. I know why he was upset. I had come so close to him that he became furious and decided to take revenge. ”
Blaney argued that because Preece was the instigator, he did not believe Preece’s actions were inappropriate or merited any punishment from NASCAR. “He had a right to take revenge on me. “What I did was cause him a lot of trouble on the course. Like I said, he tried to get me out of the way. I didn’t blame him for what he did,” Blaney said. “How hard he hit me may have been a little exaggerated because it destroyed me, but I deserved to be touched in some way for my actions.” It didn’t show on TV that he used it up first, so he didn’t just run me over. I used up him pretty big the lap before, so I don’t want it to get skewed to where, ‘Oh, Preece just wrecked me.’
“No, it was deserving for him laying the bumper to me after what I did.”
