Hefty penalties given to Kaulig Racing, Hendrick Motorsports over tampered hood louvers

On Wednesday, NASCAR gave Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing L2-level penalties after discovering that all four Hendrick teams and the No. 31 Kaulig team modified the louvers at Phoenix Raceway last weekend.

The louvers are the vent openings on the hoods that were designed to allow air to move away from the radiator and prevent teams from getting an aerodynamic advantage by placing tape over the grill, a practice used by NASCAR teams for decades.

William Byron, who has won the two most recent Cup Series races, Alex Bowman, who left Phoenix with the points lead, and Kyle Larson have all been docked 100 driver points and 10 playoff points. The No. 5, No. 9, No. 24, and No. 48 teams have also been penalized 100 owner’s points, while each team’s crew chief has been fined $100,000 and suspended four races. This includes Cliff Daniels, Alan Gustafson, Rudy Fugle, and Blake Harris.

For Kaulig, only Justin Haley’s team has been punished. Haley received similar penalties as did his team and crew chief Trent Owens.

Chase Elliott and Josh Berry will not face any discipline as Elliott has missed the last two races with a leg injury, while Berry is running for points in the Xfinity Series.

When NASCAR rolled out the Next Gen cars at the start of 2022, it ensured that penalties would be harsher for manipulating components on the vehicles. They now come from a single supplier, and Cup teams no longer fabricate their own chassis or car parts.

In a separate penalty, NASCAR fined Denny Hamlin $50,000 and took away 25 driver points for intentionally manipulating the outcome of Sunday’s race. On his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, he discussed his final-lap contact with Ross Chastain and indicated that he purposefully wanted to ruin his finishing position. Hamlin and Chastain finished 23rd and 24th, respectively, after running most of the race in the top 10.

Bowman will fall from first in the points standings to a tie for 23rd with Ryan Preece and have -10 playoff points. Byron falls to 29th with three playoff points, and Larson drops to 32nd in points with -9 playoff points. And Haley will be 38th in the standings with -40 driver points and -10 playoff points.

Hamlin drops from seventh to 12th in the standings.