Penalty reversed: Chase Briscoe wins appeal, gets 100 points back
Chase Briscoe won his appeal Wednesday to a 100-point penalty NASCAR issued after the Daytona 500 for holes in his spoiler base being bigger than when supplied to the team.
A three-member appeals panel overturned the penalty, which had included a four-race suspension to crew chief James Small and a fine of $100,000 to Joe Gibbs Racing.
"The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the No. 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part," the panel said in a statement.
The points reversal vaults Briscoe from last in the standings to a tie for 14th in the standings with 72 points.
Hearing the appeal were longtime motorsports marketing executive Dixon Johnston, former Speed Channel president Hunter Nickell and former South Boston Speedway general manager Cathy Rice.
NASCAR does not have the option to try to reverse the decision on final appeal — an option available to teams/drivers if they lose an initial appeal.
After bringing Briscoe's pole-winning Daytona 500 car back to its research and development center following the race, NASCAR found that the holes in the spoiler base used to mount it to the car were bigger than when the piece was supplied.
Whether it had any impact on performance, NASCAR tends to take a hard line if single-sourced parts are altered and therefore issued a big fine and points penalty to Briscoe and his team.
JGR indicated that, when bolting in the spoiler base and aligning it with where the holes needed to be on the deck lid using the required bolts, the holes increased in size.
"The issue in question was caused in the assembly process when bolts used to attach the spoiler base to the deck lid caused the pre-drilled holes to wear due to supplied part interferences," the team said in a statement following the penalty.
It was a big day in penalty news in NASCAR, which docked Austin Cindric 50 points and fined him $50,000 for retaliating against Ty Dillon with a right rear hook Sunday at Circuit of the Americas but stopped short of suspending him for the maneuver.
A NASCAR spokesman indicated that NASCAR didn't suspend Cindric because of the following:
— The slower pace where the incident occurred on the road course (versus speeds at a 1.5-mile or larger track).
— Dillon's car had no significant impact or damage and he was able to continue racing (The Kaulig Racing team indicates that Dillon's car suffered significant damage).
— It did not result in a caution.
— A one-race suspension did not feel appropriate and that the punishment — which now would include the driver losing all playoff points earned during the regular season — would have been too severe for what occurred.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
recommended
Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
40 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Borussia Dortmund signs Jobe Bellingham, Real Madrid star Jude's younger brother
DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — The Bellingham name is back at Borussia Dortmund. Jobe Bellingham signed a five-year-deal on Tuesday with the German club where his older brother developed into one of the world's best midfielders before joining Real Madrid in 2023. The younger Bellingham, 19, leaves Sunderland just over two weeks after helping it to win promotion back to the Premier League through the playoff final. He reportedly turned down an offer from Eintracht Frankfurt. Bellingham is eligible for Dortmund's opening group-stage games this month at the Club World Cup in the United States. He will wear No. 77 at the tournament, Dortmund said. Dortmund starts against Brazil's Fluminense on June 17 followed by Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on June 21 and South Korea's Ulsan HD four days after that. Following in his brother's footsteps Just like Jude, Jobe Bellingham is a central midfielder who likes to get forward and support attacks. Jobe has followed in his brother's footsteps by coming through the Birmingham City academy and making his senior debut at the age of 16 in 2022. He's also played for England Under-21s. There are a couple of differences between the Bellinghams, too. Jobe is two years older than Jude was when he signed for Dortmund in 2020, and he also has experience of playing a center-forward role in a handful of games for Sunderland. His performances for Sunderland in the second-division Championship this season saw Bellingham named the league's young player of the year in April and named in its team of the season. Bellingham joins a Dortmund team which narrowly secured Champions League qualification for next season by rising to fourth place on the final day of the Bundesliga. ___ AP soccer:
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Borussia Dortmund signs Jobe Bellingham, Real Madrid star Jude's younger brother
Sunderland's Jobe Bellingham kisses the trophy following the Sky Bet Championship play off final between Sheffield United and Sunderland, at Wembley Stadium, London, Saturday May 24, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP) DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — The Bellingham name is back at Borussia Dortmund. Jobe Bellingham signed a five-year-deal on Tuesday with the German club where his older brother developed into one of the world's best midfielders before joining Real Madrid in 2023. Advertisement The younger Bellingham, 19, leaves Sunderland just over two weeks after helping it to win promotion back to the Premier League through the playoff final. He reportedly turned down an offer from Eintracht Frankfurt. Bellingham is eligible for Dortmund's opening group-stage games this month at the Club World Cup in the United States. He will wear No. 77 at the tournament, Dortmund said. Dortmund starts against Brazil's Fluminense on June 17 followed by Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on June 21 and South Korea's Ulsan HD four days after that. Following in his brother's footsteps Just like Jude, Jobe Bellingham is a central midfielder who likes to get forward and support attacks. Advertisement Jobe has followed in his brother's footsteps by coming through the Birmingham City academy and making his senior debut at the age of 16 in 2022. He's also played for England Under-21s. There are a couple of differences between the Bellinghams, too. Jobe is two years older than Jude was when he signed for Dortmund in 2020, and he also has experience of playing a center-forward role in a handful of games for Sunderland. His performances for Sunderland in the second-division Championship this season saw Bellingham named the league's young player of the year in April and named in its team of the season. Advertisement Bellingham joins a Dortmund team which narrowly secured Champions League qualification for next season by rising to fourth place on the final day of the Bundesliga. ___ AP soccer:
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
NASCAR Mexico City track breakdown: A look at the Cup Series' international circuit
¡Vamos! NASCAR brings its premier Cup Series south of the border this week for its first international points race since 1958, as well as the first-ever Cup Series event in Mexico. This season's signature new event marks a significant step in NASCAR's international plans and a key test to determine if the sport's popularity in the United States, with its unique stock car brand, can be translated elsewhere. Advertisement The timing is especially good given NASCAR has a Mexico native on one of the top teams: Daniel Suárez, who is a two-time Cup Series race winner for Trackhouse Racing — a resume which includes a road course victory at Sonoma Raceway. The race will be held at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, on a road course most known for hosting Formula One grands prix. NASCAR has only slightly modified the track and will use an altered 2.49-mile layout versus F1's 2.67-mile layout; the Cup Series will also have 29 more laps than the F1 race, making it significantly longer (242.9 miles compared to 189.7 miles for F1). 'You can see the excitement from the media people, the venue looks amazing, and I love Mexican food,' said Kyle Larson, who visited the track recently for a promotional event. 'It's going to be a great time, a great event and cool to go race in a different country in front of race fans who maybe have never seen us race in person.' Before NASCAR makes its run for the border, here's what you need to know about Mexico's premier racing circuit. (Note: This section previously appeared in our F1 Mexico City Grand Prix circuit breakdown.) The track's origins are captured in its name, which quite literally translates to 'autodrome of the Rodríguez brothers.' Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez helped increase the popularity of motorsport in Mexico. Their father served as an advisor to Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos, and he suggested the president create a motorsport circuit using existing internal roads in Mexico City's Magdalena Mixiuhca sports park. The president agreed, and the circuit was built less than a year later. But the Rodríguez brothers' lives were marred by tragedy. F1 arrived in 1962 with a non-championship grand prix, but Ricardo Rodríguez died during practice when his car overturned and caught fire. Then, in 1971, Pedro Rodríguez suffered fatal injuries in a sports car race. The track was then officially named Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the early 1970s. Advertisement F1 brought its first world championship event to the track in 1963, a race dominated by Jim Clark. The series stayed until the 1970s, but due to safety concerns, it was dropped until the mid-1980s. It underwent a renovation, and the sport returned from 1986 until 1992. But Mexico fell off the calendar until 2015. Other racing series filled the void in the meantime, including CART (1980-81 and 2002-07) and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Xfinity raced there four times in the mid-2000s (races were won by Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch) before leaving following the 2008 season. But those NASCAR races were on a different layout; when F1 returned in 2015, it was reconfigured and now includes a famous cut-through of an old baseball stadium on the property. — Madeline Coleman With Mexico City at an altitude of 7,350 feet, this will be the highest elevation race in Cup Series history. That will require a significant challenge for engine builders, as the motors will generate significantly less horsepower in high altitude. It will also affect the cars' cooling because water boils at a lower temperature at elevation, and they have options to run different louvers (vents) in the hoods. It would also affect the drivers themselves, although drivers are split on how much preparation will be necessary. Chase Briscoe, for example, said he has been sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber (which simulates the conditions felt by the body at high elevations). Briscoe said he hopes it will be helpful, because otherwise he's been leaving his wife to take care of their young twins at night by herself for nothing. 'If we get to Mexico and all that was a waste of time, I'll just be in the dog house,' Briscoe said. 'You get good sleep because you're not getting woken up by the kids, but it's like 90 degrees in this tent. It smells like straight-up plastic.' Advertisement Briscoe has also been doing two-a-day workouts on Wednesdays and going to a heat room to try and build up his endurance. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell said he's also been doing some altitude training to prepare, just in case it's necessary. 'The last thing I would want to do is get down there and not feel well and not be able to perform in the car,' Bell said. Larson said he went for a run during his Mexico visit and didn't think the extra exertion required was anything particularly notable. Similarly, Ryan Blaney said there wouldn't be any acclimation process for him. When he visited Mexico City for his own media tour earlier this year, he was told it wouldn't even be very hot by the time NASCAR returned (temperatures are expected to be in the low 70s with rain). 'I don't think I'll do anything differently,' Blaney said. Bubba Wallace joked he would practice holding his breath and 'see if I can get longer and longer.' But Denny Hamlin scoffed at the notion altogether. 'I'm not soft like these guys,' Hamlin said. 'I don't get bothered by heat or get exhausted. I know the air is thinner and all that, and I know a lot of guys are preparing for it — as they should — but I will not be.' — Jeff Gluck Similarly to Circuit of the Americas in Austin — the only other current track shared by both NASCAR and F1 — the cars will race dramatically differently. In the esses, for example, F1 cars blow through there wide open. But Cup drivers believe they'll have to meander through that section in second gear. The famous stadium section (at left in the graphic above) has a turn which will require the Cup cars to slow down to a near stop ('like 30 mph,' Erik Jones estimated) and then make a large arc into the corner — somewhat like the new Charlotte Roval turn that caused some chaos last fall. Advertisement Chase Elliott said that could be a controversial turn because there's no real way to protect against a dive bomb move. 'It's kind of just, 'How much respect do you have for your competitors?' and, 'How silly do you want to be?'' Elliott said. 'Typically, if you're around guys you share a lot of mutual respect with, you don't see stupid stuff happen. And when stupid stuff does happen, it's just a sign of someone who doesn't respect somebody else. Typically, that is when that stuff gets out of hand.' But in general, Blaney said, the course will suit NASCAR very well with multiple passing zones. 'They did a really good job on it,' he said. 'It has all different aspects from high-speed straightaways, really heavy braking zones, flowy sections and then your really slow stadium section. It has all pieces of road courses we run mashed into one, so it looks like a great racetrack.' — Jeff Gluck
