Chase Briscoe reacts to severe NASCAR penalty overturned by appeals panel

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel announced Wednesday it has overturned the severe penalty NASCAR handed down to Chase Briscoe and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team coming out of the Daytona 500.

It’s a season-changing decision for Briscoe, who immediately took to social media to share his excitement.

“Biggest points day of my career! We’re back!” Briscoe wrote on X. “In all seriousness thank you to @NASCAR for giving us the option to show our evidence and huge thank you to everyone at @JoeGibbsRacing who put in countless hours to put everything together.”

NASCAR initially docked the No. 19 team 100 points, 10 playoff points and suspended crew chief James Small for the next four races due to modifications to the car’s spoiler. The team was also fined $100,000, making it one of the more substantial penalties of the Next Gen era.

NASCAR put a temporary hold on Small’s suspension while Briscoe’s appeal was being ruled on, so Small was able to join the team in Atlanta and at COTA over the weekend. But now, with the appeal won, Briscoe will have the 100-point and 10-playoff-point penalties removed and the suspension for Small lifted. The governing body made its ruling after taking a closer look at the part in question.

“The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the number 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part,” the body ruled, per Kelly Crandall of RACER/ESPN.

Chase Briscoe’s 2025 season back on course

As of Wednesday afternoon, Briscoe was 46th in the points standings. After winning his appeal, he sits 14th. Before the overturn, Briscoe was essentially facing a must-win scenario to make the playoffs. While this opens things up a bit, his mindset won’t change.

“I would say this year my approach is way different in general,” Briscoe said last month on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We should be able to go to the racetrack and contend for wins on a lot more consistent basis. So, you know, my whole approach going into this year was trying to win multiple races and that doesn’t change. The points situation obviously is unfortunate. But I mean, we still just need to go win races at the end of the day.

“That’s what we’re here to do is try to win races and you know, potentially try to win a championship, too. To have a chance to win a championship you need to be winning races, anyway. So, yeah, it doesn’t change the approach at all. I don’t even think from a strategy standpoint or anything, it changes anything. You just go there and try to win the race, and you know, hopefully, our cars are good enough to do that.”