NASCAR suspended Craftsman Truck Series driver Conner Jones for one race on Wednesday after an incident in Saturday‘s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sanctioning body also gave an L1-level penalty to the No. 38 truck driven by Layne Riggs for improperly mounted ballast.
RELATED: Martinsville schedule | Truck standings
On Lap 76 of 134 at Homestead, Jones hit Matt Mills in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet from behind with his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford and Mills shot up the track and into the outside wall. NASCAR responded by giving Jones a two-lap penalty during the race and then followed up with the one-race suspension for violating Sections 4.3.A; 4.4.B: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct in the rule book. That means Jones will miss this week’s race at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Mills‘ truck was engulfed in flames, and although Mills exited the vehicle under his own power, he was transported to Jackson South Medical Center where he stayed two nights under observation for smoke inhalation. Mills was released from the hospital on Monday and Niece Motorsports revealed he was cleared to race this weekend at Martinsville.
As for the No. 38 truck, NASCAR officials deducted 10 driver and 10 owner points from that Front Row Motorsports team and suspended crew chief Dylan Capello one race for violating Section 14.3.4.A&B: Ballast Containers of the rule book. Riggs, who finished 22nd at Homestead, remained in 11th place in the Truck standings after the penalty.
In other penalty news, NASCAR fined three Xfinity Series crew chiefs $5,000 apiece for having one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection for Saturday‘s Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Those crew chiefs were Mardy Lindley of the JR Motorsports No. 1 for Sam Mayer, Charles Street of the Richard Childress Racing No. 21 for race winner Austin Hill and Joe Williams of the RSS Racing No. 39 for Ryan Sieg.
Officials also fined Truck Series crew chief Charles Walter $2,500 when one lug nut was found not safe and secure on the Spire Motorsports No. 71 driven by Rajah Caruth.
Read the full article here