Wednesday afternoon it was announced by NASCAR that the 14 team of Chase Briscoe for Stewart-Haas Racing had been handed down a L3-level penalty for counterfeiting a part on the Next-Gen Ford Mustang. The penalty also includes a loss of 120 points in both the driver and owner standings, an additional loss of 25 points should the team make the playoffs, a $250,000 fine and a suspension for crew chief Johnny Klausmeier.
The penalty report states that SHR violated multiple sections of the rulebook, including section 14.1F which states it “prohibits the counterfeiting of a Next Gen single source vendor supplied part”. They were also found to have violated sections 14.6A and 14.6.3B which deal with the underwing and engine panel assembly, respectively.
It was found in post race tech on Sunday that the NACA ducts were not within compliance.
An L3 penalty is the largest penalty in NASCAR, a penalty that was created alongside of the Next Gen, and was created to show the the seriousness of a violation of the rulebook with the new vehicle. This is the first such instance of a team violating this rule.
SHR’s Greg Zippadeli when reached for comment said the following: “We had a quality control lapse and a part that never should’ve been on a car going to the racetrack ended up on the No. 14 car at Charlotte. We accept NASCAR’s decision and will not appeal.”
Klausmeier will begin serving his suspension immediately.
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