NASCAR issued suspensions on Tuesday to two members of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 crew for a wheel that came detached on Sunday in the Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The incident occurred under caution during the second stage of the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400. As a result, he was penalized two laps but regained both and ultimately finished 21st, but only after a spin in the closing laps of the race.
Suspended for the next two races are rear tire changer Calvin Teague and jackman Brandon Johnson. The affected races at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway.
An indefinite suspension was also issued to Nicholas Covey for a violation of NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. Covey most recently served as jackman for the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 on April 7 at Martinsville Speedway.
Three other Cup Series crew members were hit with one-race suspensions for Talladega for infractions related to protective clothing and equipment:
- No. 17 RFK Racing tire carrier Zach Yager (gloves)
- No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing tire carrier Jake Holmes (helmet strap)
- No. 33 Richard Childress Racing jackman Doug Warrick (helmet)
In the Xfinity Series, competition officials handed down a one-race suspension to Brandon Harder — fueler for the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team — for a protective clothing/equipment violation, specifically the protective apron.
Officials also fined two crew chiefs $5,000 apiece after their cars were found with one unsecured lug nut each in a post-race check:
- No. 9 JR Motorsports crew chief Phillip Bell
- No. 48 Big Machine Racing crew chief Patrick Donahue
In the Craftsman Truck Series, Henderson Motorsports crew chief Chris Carrier was fined $2,500 for a single unsecured lug nut on the No. 75 entry of Stefan Parsons post-race at Texas.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.