NASCAR seizes Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports cars for further inspection post-Iowa

NASCAR has confirmed that Cup Series cars belonging to Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports are set for further inspection following post-race checks at Iowa Speedway.

The Iowa Corn 350 was won in thrilling fashion by William Byron after an epic fuel-saving effort, with the No. 24's win confirmed post-race after passing technical inspection.

However, whilst NASCAR reported no immediate issues at Iowa Speedway, the series has confirmed that they are set to take a total of four cars back to their R&D Center in Concord, NC, with some big-name teams under scrutiny.

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Cup Series cars facing further scrutiny

The cars include Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford, which he drove to a fourth-place finish for Team Penske at Iowa on Sunday, as well as Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet following a seventh-place finish.

Joe Gibbs Racing and Trackhouse Racing are also affected, with Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota and Ross Chastain's No. 1 Chevrolet also set for further inspection.

What does this mean for those cars exactly? Well, cars are taken back to the R&D center from time to time, and often, it is just routine. However, if something illegal or that violated a rule were to be found during the added inspection, there would naturally be consequences.

This happened when Hendrick Motorsports' No. 17 Chevrolet, driven by Chase Elliott in the Xfinity Series that weekend, was seized post-race at Pocono in June.

When inspecting the car at their R&D Center, NASCAR uncovered that the team's vehicle was in violation of Sections 14.3.3.2.1.1 K&L (Main Frame Rail Conical Receivers) of the NASCAR Rule Book.

As a result, hefty penalties followed, with crew chief Adam Wall suspended for three races and the team fined $40,000, as well as docked 40 owner points and 10 playoff points.

However, for the most part, the further inspections are for educational purposes, as outlined on NASCAR's official website: "Sometimes, NASCAR will choose cars to take back to the R&D Center, but that’s more for engine education than anything else."

Penalties galore in Iowa

NASCAR officials had a very busy Sunday at Iowa Speedway - with 12 cautions thrown and a total of 21 penalties issued during the race.

Three of those went to Michael Jordan’s 23XI team, notably last week’s Indianapolis winner Bubba Wallace was hit with multiple tail-end penalties on Lap 243, first for 'pitting before pit road is open' and then again for his No. 23 team having 'too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area'.

23XI then saw Tyler Reddick also hit with a tail-end penalty just 13 laps later for the exact same infraction, with his No. 45 team having also had 'too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area'.

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