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NASCAR took William Byron‘s No. 24 and Alex Bowman‘s No. 48 cars back to the R&D Center after Richmond for ‘further inspection.’ Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) finished 1-2 in that race with Kyle Larson beating teammate Josh Berry. Larson’s No. 5 car passed post-race inspection without issue.
The No. 24 and No. 48 teams have each been docked 60 driver and owner points, as well as five playoff points. Interim crew chiefs Brian Campe and Greg Ives have been suspended for the next two races and each fined $75,000 as well.
The cars were found to have made illegal modifications to the greenhouse of both cars.
The points penalty drops Bowman from the lead of the regular season standings down to seventh, while Byron drops from fourth to 14th.
Second offense
This is now the second time during the 2023 season that NASCAR has found the Hendrick organization to be in violation of the rules.
On March 15, NASCAR penalized all four Hendrick teams for the modification of single-source supplied parts, specifically the hood louvers.
Along with $100,000 fine and four-week crew chief suspension for each team, they were all docked 100 driver/owner points and 10 playoff points.
Last week, although an appeals panel found HMS guilty, they still rescinded all points penalties against them. They found the suspensions and monetary fines to be sufficient.
Hendrick Motorsports released the following statement in response to these latest penalties: “We are reviewing the penalties issued today by NASCAR and will determine next steps following Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.”