NASCAR won't penalize Marco Andretti, No. 4 team for losing rear axle at COTA

Marco Andretti will not face any penalties from NASCAR after his No. 04 truck lost its entire rear axle at COTA on Saturday, according to NBC Sports writer Dustin Long.

In one of the more bizarre incidents on a track this season, Andretti lost both wheels off the rear of his vehicle when the entire axle snapped off.

The incident in question occurred when Andretti spun in Turn 11, just before leader Corey Heim was about to take the white flag. A red flag was waived, allowing safety crews to come in and remove the rear end housing that had snapped off of Andretti’s vehicle.

The incident ended Andretti’s day on the track, as safety crews worked to clean up the area. A lot of fluid was put down on the track as the axle dislodged itself.

The red flag lasted four minutes and 30 seconds.

When the race resumed, despite drivers like Taylor Gray, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Ross Chastain, and Connor Zilisch getting a temporary new lease on life, Heim was able to close things out. He went on to win the race and closed out a dominant performance in which he led 30 laps.

Andretti is racing for Roper Racing in the NASCAR Truck Series.

This year Marco Andretti is making select starts in the Truck Series as well as the ARCA Menards Series. Things haven’t been great for him so far in 2024. However, losing his rear axle might just be rock bottom.

So far this season, Andretti has two starts in ARCA with a DNF finish of P25 at Daytona and a P21 finish at Phoenix. Saturday’s finish of P31 and another DNF is not how he wanted to start his truck campaign.

Andretti is previously a winner of the 2022 Camping World SRX Series Championship, beating Ryan Newman by two points. The championship came despite not winning a race during the course of the year.