No. 6 RFK Racing team handed record points penalties for part infraction

NASCAR announced Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing team was docked 100 driver, 100 owner points and 10 playoff points for an infraction discovered on Keselowski’s Atlanta car.

Under the old, 1975-2010 Latford system, a 100-point penalty is equivalent to a 325-point penalty – surpassing a then-record 200-point penalty given to Carl Long for an oversized engine at the 2009 NASCAR All-Star Race.

Crew chief Matt McCall was also suspended for 4 races and fined $100,000 for the infraction.

The sanctioning body determined the team violated Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the rulebook, each related to modifying a single source supplied part.

Keselowski’s team made unapproved adjustments, which sent him to the rear of the field for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta. After the race, the car was sent to the NASCAR R&D Center where a teardown inspection uncovered the violations.

The violations warranted an L2-level infraction where penalty options consisted of:

• 75-120 point deduction
• 10-25 playoff point deduction
• 4-6 race suspension of one or two crew members
• $100,000-$250,000 fine

Keselowski dropped from 17th to 35th in the playoff standings and from 4 points out of the playoffs to 104 out – and 34 points out of the final position eligible to win and get into the playoffs, currently held by BJ McLeod.

Keselowski is also 26 points behind David Ragan – who has three fewer starts – and 6 points behind Garrett Smithley, who has two fewer starts.

In the first five races, Keselowski outscored McLeod by an average of 11.2 points per race. Keselowski has only been outscored by McLeod, Burton or Ware in Fontana – by 5 points vs. McLeod – and at Las Vegas – by 8 points vs. Burton.

Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing announced Josh Sell, Keselowski’s engineer, will fill in for McCall beginning with this Sunday’s 68-lap race at Circuit of the Americas (3:30 p.m. ET; TV: FOX; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: In September 2010, Clint Bowyer and owner Richard Childress were each docked 150 points under the Latford system. This was the last time NASCAR levied a triple-digit points penalty.

The penalty was for an infraction discovered during tech inspection after Bowyer won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Crew chief Shane Wilson and crew member Chad Haney were also suspended for 6 races – and Wilson was fined $150,000 – for the infraction.