NASCAR announces penalties from weekend races at Pocono Raceway

After a busy weekend at Pocono, NASCAR has released the penalty report. The organization announced the penalties on Wednesday morning.

The Xfinity and Cup Series had no penalties on the weekend. However, Ross Chastain was penalized for a loose lug nut in the Craftsman Truck Series, and crew chief Phil Gould was fined $2,500.

Additionally, Cordell Cahill and RJ Otto received indefinite suspensions for violating NASCAR’s Substance Abuse Policy.

Cahill works in IT support for 23XI Racing, and Otto last served as the interim crew chief for Bret Holmes in the Truck Series in 2023.

Corey JaJoie escapes penalty for Kyle Busch wreck

Perhaps the most high-profile incident of the weekend at Pocono was a collision that took out Kyle Busch in the Cup Series event on Sunday.

The wreck happened when Corey LaJoie got into Busch’s rear bumper just ahead of a turn on the track, spinning Busch and sending his car sideways into the turn. As a result of the angle, Busch’s car would fly back up the track into a pack of cars, taking out a handful of drivers.

It was the most forceful collision of the day at Pocono.

But after NASCAR officials said they would take a look at it, they came away with the determination that nothing LaJoie did was overly untoward after reviewing both the footage and the audio.

According to Dustin Long of NBC Sports, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said that officials will speak to LaJoie about the incident ahead of this Sunday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

That LaJoie avoids penalty is interesting in light of previous weeks’ incidents that have triggered fines.

Carson Hocevar drew a $50,000 fine and lost Cup Series points for an incident involving Harrison Burton at Nashville, while Bubba Wallace was recently fined $50,000 for slamming into Alex Bowman during a cool-down lap at Chicago.