NASCAR hits Stewart-Haas Racing with ‘severe penalty’ over counterfeit part: ‘We don’t take these lightly’

Stewart-Haas Racing was hit with NASCAR’s most significant penalty on Wednesday after finding that Chase Briscoe was driving a car with a counterfeit part in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600. 

The racing team will face severe punishment over the level-L3 violation, including being docked 120 points in both owner and driver standings and a $250,000 fine, according to NASCAR.com.

“In the post-race inspection here at the R&D Center we found the No. 14 car to have an engine panel NACA duct not to compliance within the rulebook. It’s a counterfeit part and that is an L3 penalty that was have assessed to the team,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer told the website. 

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“This is a severe penalty. We don’t take these lightly. We did a lot of investigation, a lot of work, scanning the parts to make sure what we thought was correct and after all that work that was done behind the scenes, again, it rose to a level to be an L3 penalty.” 

In addition to being docked regular season points and the fine, the racing team was also docked 25 playoff points and suspended crew chief John Klausmeier for six races, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported.

Stewart-Haas Racing chief competition officer Greg Zipadelli suggested in a statement Wednesday that the part being put in Briscoe’s car was a mistake. 

“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.”

The team does not intend to appeal NASCAR’s decision.

“Don’t mess with a single-source part,” Sawyer told NASCAR.com. “It’s just not going to be the culture that we’re going to be allowing.” 

The penalty moves Briscoe from four points behind the playoff cutoff to 124 points, according to FOX Sports.