NASCAR pulls car chiefs, pit selection from Ross Chastain, Todd Gilliland, and Daniel Hemric after tech at Pocono

After failing tech twice, Ross Chastain, Todd Gilliland, and Daniel Hemric were all penalized by NASCAR according to the rule book. That means they lose their car chiefs for the weekend as well as pit selection for this race. All will get to qualify.

Three times through tech and each of the NASCAR Cup Series teams passed technical inspection. Ross Chastain is still searching for a win this season and this won’t help things. Todd Gilliland had started to build a steady rhythm. And Daniel Hemric doesn’t need any more challenges.

This is unfortunate for these teams. Each will now have to work short-handed this weekend. The good news is that they will qualify, but their pit selections are not going to be ideal.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports confirmed with NASCAR about the penalties.

NASCAR confirms car chiefs for Chastain, Gilliland and Hemric ejected two failures. They also lose pit selection this weekend at Pocono. … They all passed on third time so will get to qualify. https://t.co/m75f9qdaRb

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 12, 2024

For Ross Chastain, it has not been an ideal season. His teammate Daniel Suárez won a thrilling three-wide finish at Atlanta this season. While Chastain has had good runs at times this season, he hasn’t been up in the front that often.

Todd Gilliland has nine straight top-20 finishes for Front Row Motorsports. His team will now have to keep up that trend, coming off a top-10 at Chicago, without a car chief.

As for Daniel Hemric, he is coming off of two solid finishes. He was P9 at Nashville in a race of attrition and P12 at Chicago. That is good momentum for this No. 31 team who has struggled at times this season. The job only gets tougher.

Ross Chastain stands up for Carson Hocevar

One thing Ross Chastain is doing this season, taking on a mentorship role. Carson Hocevar has had a couple of hiccups recently on the track. Mainly getting fined $50k and 25 points for spinning Harrison Burton under caution.

Ahead of the Chicago Street Race, Chastain addressed Hocevar’s struggles.

“I think back to what I was doing at 20 years old and I wasn’t that fast,” Chastain said, according to Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “I am constantly amazed at how he makes speed with these cars. And then off the track, he has a group around him that is there to help him grow and grow with him for the long haul. Because he’s so fast, they are invested in growing with him.”

Of course, Hocevar has people around him already to help guide him. Like Jeff Dickerson.

“[Carson] and I talked yesterday and he has a good group of people here at the track so he doesn’t need me,” Chastain said. “He’s got Jeff Dickerson and he’s great. I talked to him earlier in the week. One of Jeff’s strong suits is that he’s very good at dealing with this and helped me get through some of my past mistakes. It was really refreshing to hear from Jeff and what they went through and how they worked through it this week.”

Is this a good move for Ross Chastain? Could he help guide and mentor Hocevar in the Cup Series?