NASCAR suspends two crew members from Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 team for two races after losing wheel in Las Vegas

NASCAR has hit Ty Gibbs‘ No. 54 team with some major penalties after his wheel flew off during Sunday’s race at Las Vegas.

Aside from the torn up race car, Gibbs’ team will now have to deal with two crew members being suspended from the next two championship points events, as NASCAR announced on Tuesday.

“NEWS: NASCAR penalizes the No. 54 team for a safety violation after the loss of an improperly installed wheel during Sunday’s race at @LVMotorSpeedway,” tweeted NASCAR. “Two crew members have been suspended from the next two championship points events.”

Thankfully, Gibbs was unharmed, and his wheel went harmlessly into the wall at Las Vegas, but the possibility of a huge accident was too much of a risk to let his team go free after the slip-up.

While Ty Gibbs isn’t in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, he’s still racing for points and experience. Time will tell if the penalty hinders his abilities on the track, or if he’s able to churn out solid performances in the next two races.

More on NASCAR, penalties from Las Vegas

Moreover, another driver who dealt with a penalty over the weekend was Ryan Blaney, but his was rescinded after NASCAR examined the situation more closely.

During a statement released Monday, NASCAR cited “further review of the inspection process” in making the decision. All of Blaney’s stage and race-finishing positions from Sunday’s race have been restored. 

“After further review of the inspection process throughout this weekend’s events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR has rescinded the No. 12 disqualification penalty,” NASCAR wrote, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “Monday morning during its race weekend debrief, NASCAR discovered an issue with the damper template used for inspection. NASCAR then conducted a detailed investigation and restored the No. 12’s stage and race finishing positions from Sunday. 

“NASCAR has taken internal steps to remedy this issue moving forward.”

Blaney was originally disqualified for an illegal shock on his car. The front left shock did not meet standards and as a result, NASCAR disqualified the playoff driver. Blaney, one of the eight drivers remaining with a shot at winning the Cup Series championship, finished 6th at Las Vegas. He was 56 points below the cut-line for the Championship 4 after the disqualification, but now finds himself just 17 points back and seventh among the eight remaining title contenders, according to Motorsport.

“I thought we could have maybe run third,” Blaney said after the race, via John Newby of NBC Sports. “That was probably the best we were gonna get to, but lost some ground there on the last stop and ran out of laps to get it back. Overall, it wasn’t a bad effort. You’re trying to get every point that you can because all of them matter.”