NASCAR trio set for punishment after Sonoma failures

NASCAR has named three teams who appear likely to be hit with penalties or other punishments in the coming days.

Connor Zilisch's No. 88 team passed technical inspection to sign off a brilliant and dramatic win in Saturday's Xfinity Series race, but a trio of drivers did not.

Bob Pockrass noted that Austin Hill, Dean Thompson and Brennan Poole were all flagged during inspection for loose wheel nuts after finishing 12th, 18th and 22nd respectively around Sonoma.

Precedent would suggest that none of them are likely to face any serious sporting penalties, with Taylor Gray's No. 54 team being fined $5,000 for the same infringement at Mexico.

Zilisch proves SVG is still beatable

However, just one more loose lug nut would have likely seen a repeat of the $10,000 fine levied against Zilisch at Nashville, which also saw his crew chief suspended for a race and resulted in team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. step into that role and win on his crew chief debut.

Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen duelled brilliantly on Saturday, going head-to-head for the majority of the race before the teenager held off the wily New Zealander for the entirety of the final stage.

Speaking after the race, Zilisch said: “All race long I felt like we were racing each other with respect. I wheel hopped a little bit into (turn) seven one time and got into him, but other than that it was awesome to get to race against him … a whole race.”

He added: “There was a chance he could have gotten by me when he hit me and he let me have it and raced me clean. I respect the hell out of him for that. I didn’t want to have to do anything dirty to win this race and I’m glad I didn’t.”

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