Racking up thousands of dollars in fines and having already lost three crew members for nearly a month’s worth of races, this new violation is hardly welcome news for Kyle Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew.
Having replaced his his crew chief once already this season, his substitute has now been suspended following a violation found during Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway. This means that Busch and his team will have to find a secondary substitute for his normal crew chief, Adam Stevens, to work the upcoming race this weekend.
Stevens was originally suspended for four races following a serious infraction at Dover International Speedway in which Busch’s car actually lost a wheel coming out of pit road. In addition to the lengthy crew chief suspension for that, NASCAR also mandated a suspension of the tire changer and tire carrier for the rear left wheel. Busch’s latest infraction also has to do with lug nuts – or, rather, the lack thereof.
Ben Beshore, Busch’s interim crew chief and engineer will now be suspended for this coming weekend’s race after receiving a penalty for having two unsecured lug nuts on the No. 18 during Sonoma’s race. Beyond that, NASCAR also fined Beshore $20,000 for the faux pas.
Neither Kyle Busch, nor Joe Gibbs Racing has announced who will be stepping up to take the place left open by both Stevens’ and Beshore’s suspensions, but experts are expecting an announcement in the coming days.
Watch the video below of Busch’s tire flying off during the Drive For Autism 400 at Dover earlier this month.