Cole Custer‘s crew chief Michael Shiplett has been indefinitely suspended following the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, NASCAR announced Oct. 11.
Custer and the team were penalized under section 5.5of NASCAR’s rule book. That passage speaks to drivers being required to race at 100% of all times and to refrain from artificially altering the finishing positions of a race.
Custer and Shiplett have also been fined $100,000 each, with the No. 41 team being docked both 50 owner and driver points as a result of the penalty.
The infraction comes as a result of Custer seemingly blocking other cars on track for his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Chase Briscoe on the last lap of the ROVAL race. Briscoe was in danger of being eliminated from the playoffs and was tied with Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson for the final transfer position at the end of the race.
“We had the crew chief telling the driver, ‘I think you’ve got a flat. Check up. Check up,’ when he couldn’t even see the car or have any idea whatsoever that the car might have a flat,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller stated. “Obviously, pretty telling as to what went on there. That, coupled with the data and the video … nothing contradicted the fact that that was done deliberately. We were certainly forced to react.
“We can’t have teams manipulating the finishing order.”
Larson was eventually eliminated from the postseason championship hunt while Briscoe passed enough cars to qualify into the next round by a margin of two points.
#NASCAR says it is reviewing the No. 41 car's actions on the final lap.
Any potential penalties will not impact the Round of 8 field. pic.twitter.com/spodKfqug4
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 9, 2022
“Had this been the determining factor in the No. 14 making it into the Round of 8 or not, our reaction would have been bigger,” Miller said. “The No. 14 qualified without this, but had it not been the case and the No. 14 would have gotten into the playoffs, we would have had to react in an even stronger fashion.”
NASCAR has not said it will alter the Round of 8 roster in any way, leaving Briscoe still in the playoffs.
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Landon Cassill‘s Kaulig Racing team has also been penalized for a loose lug nut at the end of the series’ ROVAL race. Crew chief Alex Yontz has been fined $5,000.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
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