NASCAR spurns race manipulation penalties in official announcement

All the talk of race manipulation penalties being handed down following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series elimination race in Charlotte was just that, talk.

For the most part, the Roval delivered another dull afternoon of racing in North Carolina, with road course bully and hot favorite Shane van Gisbergen dominating once again. Shocker.

Behind SvG - who is already out of the playoffs - all eyes were on which eight drivers would make it through to the next stage. But we got very little drama until very, very late in the day.

What we did get was teams via radio telling their teams to ‘save tires’, with some fans and analysts asking if they were effectively telling those drivers to protect playoff drivers from the same manufacturer who were up the road and needed the points to survive.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Driver set for Cup Series return as reigning champion booed by haters

Hamlin pass delivers playoff drama

Eventually we did get some drama of course, with Denny Hamlin passing Ross Chastain on the very final lap to send Ross out and keep three-time champion Joey Logano alive.

Even Hamlin admitted afterwards that he would not have made the move on Chastain had his radio told him of the playoff implications. Well there may be a good reason he wasn’t told.

Freddie Kraft, spotter for Bubba Wallace and the No.23 car, said: “The biggest thing to me to explain to the fans side of this, I know a lot of people can’t believe Denny didn’t know.

“We are no longer allowed to mention the word points as a spotter, as a team. I know some teams did and God bless them, they got away with it.”

Kraft, speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, continued: “But on Saturday, it was a playoff driver that was in no threat of losing his position or anything, asked his spotter, ‘What’s the playoffs look like? What’s going on?’

"The spotter simply read the standings… no directions, just read the standings. He got a warning from NASCAR, do not talk about points standings because they don’t want race manipulation.”

No penalties, despite the chatter

So it was against this backdrop that there was much anticipation ahead of the official NASCAR penalty report post-Charlotte, but when it dropped there was absolutely nothing of note.

In terms of Cup Series penalty action, there were zero reported infractions for race manipulation, and very little of anything.

The Xfinity Series had the most notable update, with Joe Gibbs Racing picking up a $5000 fine for a loose or unsecured lug nut on the No. 54 car driven by Taylor Gray.

READ MORE: NASCAR star's family in terrifying car wreck

Related