Last week in Las Vegas, fans were treated to some exciting action on the race track, although it wasn’t the wheel-to-wheel racing or drivers pushing each other to the limit, it was a lone wheel tumbling down the race track without a care in the world. And this wasn’t an isolated incident. It happened multiple times at the race in Las Vegas. Kyle Bush’s No. 8 and Chase Briscoe’s No. 19 teams were in question after the wheels detached from their racecars during the race.
NASCAR has set the precedent with the penalty for a loose wheel on the track, a loose wheel on the track means a 2-lap penalty for the driver and a 2-race suspension for the crew members involved, it is a decent system, that acts as a deterrent for the teams. And NASCAR stood by their rules this time, penalizing the teams and drivers who had loose wheels on the track. But NASCAR being NASCAR did something else, something that has given rise to another controversy.
Christopher Bell’s pit road improvisation paid off
NASCAR stuck to its guns and penalized both Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe and RCR’s Kyle Busch for loose wheels with 2 lap penalties in the race, and later suspended the crew members involved for 2 races as per the rules, as covered by NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass in his tweet. “NASCAR confirms the two-race suspensions for the Briscoe and Busch teams — tire changer and jackman suspended for wheel coming off.”
It was alright till now, you get a loose wheel, you get penalized, simple so far. But that’s where the story took a turn and the controversy started. Christopher Bell driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s number 20 car left his pit area after his pit stop, but when the crew discovered that there was a wheel loose, he was directed to the pit box of his teammate, Chase Briscoe, by the quick thinking of his Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens. While Busch and Briscoe got penalized for their loose wheels, Bell got away scot-free without any penalties or suspension.
“Super heads-up, smart by the 20[Bell]…Obviously, I wish we could’ve done that with our tire, but it was crazy, I didn’t even know you could do that,” said Briscoe in a post-race interview when asked about his teammate pitting in his pit box.
NASCAR confirms the two-race suspensions for the Briscoe and Busch teams — tire changer and jackman suspended for wheel coming off. Also, Keselowski had his rear changer Jo Wright suspended for substance abuse policy violation. Coleman Dollarhide replaced him starting last week. https://t.co/o3IntBY23X
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 19, 2025
There have been no comments from Christopher Bell on his pitstop or him getting away without a penalty, his crew chief Adam Stevens did shed some light on the situation, “It’s something that we’ve talked about before. It’s a situation that’s come up in the past, and it’s been discussed with NASCAR. So, it could prevent a wheel going across the racetrack or a dangerous situation. So, as soon as he jumped up with his head shaking, we, uh, we jumped on it.”
While NASCAR was handing out penalties and suspensions for loose wheels and pit stop issues they also suspended Jo Wright, a crew member of RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski’s crew for violating the sports substance abuse policy. NASCAR has suspended Wright, the rear-tire changer for Keselowski’s number 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for an indefinite period of time.
This is not the first time NASCAR has found itself in hot water for its inconsistent officiating and it definitely will not be the last too. While Harvick was impressed with Christopher Bell’s team improvisation, he found a major loophole from this isolated incident, that could become a new trend.
2025 Season: A Season of Controversies
The 2025 NASCAR season has not even reached halfway and it is already filled with controversies and people calling for NASCAR to pull up its socks and do something about it. The season started with the weight modification cheating scandal and the issue with the caution flag during the late crash at the first race of the season, the Daytona 500.
Daytona was not the end of NASCAR’s problems with its officiating, it carried on to COTA, where NASCAR was criticized heavily for its troubled officiating regarding the track limits, when some drivers were penalized for track limits and some were not for the same corner multiple times. Or Austin Cindric getting away after intentionally right-hooking Ty Dillon and getting away without a suspension.
Kevin Harvick couldn’t help but again point out why NASCAR’s officiating decisions were sketchy to say the least at Vegas. Although he liked the smart thinking by Bell and the No. 20 team, he felt the rule wasn’t fair. “What about the guy who only has one car, is that fair, who doesn’t have a teammate to stop in their box? So now every team is going to do it. I agree with the safer piece of it, it’s better to not have the wheel fall off, but is it fair? Because in the end, it has to be fair.”
Either NASCAR needs to fix their single lug nut system or they need to have a better rule book to tackle the situation that happened last weekend.
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