Walking drivers fined
NASCAR fined two drivers on Wednesday for walking across the race track at Dover last weekend.
Trevor Bayne was fined $20,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the year for walking across the racing surface during Sunday’s Sprint Cup race. Jennifer Jo Cobb was fined $5,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 for doing the same thing during Friday’s Truck Series race. NASCAR last August banned drivers from walking onto the racing surface following a fatal accident involving Tony Stewart at a dirt track in upstate New York. Kevin Ward Jr. was struck and killed when he approached Stewart’s moving car. NASCAR on Wednesday also issued a P1 penalty against Kevin Harvick’s team for receiving written warnings in consecutive events. He will have the last choice of pit selection this weekend at Pocono. The Stewart-Haas Racing team was warned for having to go through pre-race inspection more than three times at Charlotte, and the car’s exhaust pipe did not confirm to the rules at Dover. In the Xfinity Series, crew chief John Monsam and car chief David Jones were each suspended one race after a weight fell off Peyton Sellers’ car last weekend at Dover. Monsam was also fined $15,000 and Sellers docked 15 points for the P3 penalty. The weight fell off during a Friday practice session and it caused Carl Long to crash when Long could not avoid hitting the piece. NASCAR also fined crew chief Nick Harrison $7,500 and placed him on probation through Dec 31 after Austin Dillon’s car was too low in post-race inspection. Car owner Richard Childress was docked 10 points.
IndyCar has reduced a penalty levied against Helio Castroneves for triggering an accident on the first lap of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last month. Castroneves was initially penalized 8 points for hitting Scott Dixon in the first corner of the May 9 race. After a review by IndyCar last weekend, the series reduced the penalty to 3 points. Castroneves’ penalty had been for avoidable contact, and IndyCar president of competition Derrick Walker said the reduction was to put it in line with previous penalties.