NASCAR Cup Series star hit with massive penalty at Daytona

NASCAR's de facto 2025 Cup Series regular season champion William Byron has been hit with a major penalty at Daytona this week.

Byron, who cannot be caught for the regular season title unless he is docked points for a serious infraction, will be without his crew chief for Saturday night's race – among other punishments.

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Not only has crew chief Rudy Fugle been ejected from the race weekend after the team was observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter at the front of the Next Gen vehicle, but Byron will also be sent to the back of the field for the start.

The team has also lost its pit stall selection for the last race of the regular season and, to add insult to injury, will have to serve a stop-and-go penalty on pit road once the race goes green.

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Byron hit with major penalty

NASCAR's official website noted: "After the No. 24 car passed inspection on its second attempt through all stations, NASCAR officials said the team was observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter at the front of the race car.

"The struts were reinstalled, NASCAR said, and the car was sent back through the Underbody Scanning Station (USS), where the vehicle failed measurements as a result of the adjustments."

Byron's No. 24 team wasn't the only one to be penalized ahead of Saturday's race, with BJ McLeod failing tech inspection twice, meaning that Live Fast Motorsports' Lee Leslie has been ejected, and he has lost its pit stall selection.

The grid for the race was set by NASCAR's rulebook on Friday, after lightning in the area nixed any running right up to (but not including) the Xfinity Series race later in the night.

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