The No. 3 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1, which is driven by Austin Dillon and fielded by Richard Childress Racing (RCR), was taken back to the sport’s Research and Development Center following the Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on April 16th, 2023. Upon teardown of the race car, NASCAR found hardware that it deemed to be illegal, and issued an L1-level infraction to the No. 3 Chevy team.
In a statement, sanctioning body said that the No. 3 NASCAR Chevy team “violated the overall assembled vehicle rules related to the underwing assembly and hardware,” but did not disclose specifics about the parts that were found to be out-of-spec. As a result, Dillon’s crew chief, Keith Rodden, has been suspended from the next two point-paying Cup Series events and must pay a fine of $75,000. Dillon’s No. 3 Chevy team was also docked 60 points, as well as five Playoff points.
Prior to the penalties, Dillon and the No. 3 Camaro were scored 21st in the Cup Series standings. RCR has not yet indicated if it will attempt an appeal before the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
The penalties to Dillon’s No. 3 Camaro are just the latest of quite a few infractions incurred by NASCAR Chevy teams over the last few weeks. All four Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) entries and one Kaulig Racing entry were hit with severe penalties for illegally modified hood louvres discovered at Phoenix Raceway. HMS won its appeal and had its points reinstated, while Kaulig initially failed its appeal, but had its points also reinstated after a final ruling this week.
Additionally, the No. 24 Camaro of William Byron and No. 48 Camaro of Alex Bowman, both fielded by HMS, were seized by NASCAR after the race at Richmond Raceway on April 2nd. Both teams were again penalized, this time for illegal greenhouse modifications.
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View Comments
I guess it's time to watch my favorite Table tennis TV show.
who hurt you?
These team owners who have made 100's of millions are as greedy as nascar. They need to close up shop and donate their wealth to good causes and let nascar drown in their pool of corruption.
If they are cheating hangem
Who's behind this, Toyota, Ford ?
NASCAR needs toyota to win the cup championship because they have gotten a new head man and since they lost money last year as a car manufacture the toyota stockholders may be asking why are we spending money in NASCAR.
Actually, there has been talk of a fourth manufacturer entering for quite some time. It'll likely be Honda, and would have happened by now if not for the pandemic.
haven't watched NASCAR since they made all the cars basically the same. Other things replace things that go bad IMHO
More NASCAR BS. If they are calling out a penalty for a part infraction then tell us what the part is and what's wrong with it. I hope like hell NASCAR goes broak.
Ops Normal, nothing new here. Carry on.