Kyle Busch's crew chief, tire changer suspended on lug nut rule
CHARLOTTE — Two of Kyle Busch’s team members were suspended Wednesday following their win at Kansas Speedway after violating NASCAR’s revised lug nut policy.
Crew chief Adam Stevens was suspended for one race and fined $20,000 while front tire changer Josh Leslie was also suspended for this weekend’s race at Dover International Speedway. They became the first team members to be penalized under the new rule, which was changed in the aftermath of Tony Stewart’s strong comments about safety last month.
NASCAR no longer gives specific information regarding its penalties, but it appeared the No. 18 violated the rule by not having all the lug nuts secured (there were no missing lug nuts, but all of them may not have been tight).
On Wednesday evening, Joe Gibbs Racing released a statement that read:
"Joe Gibbs Racing announces today it will not appeal the penalty issued by NASCAR earlier this afternoon to its No. 18 team.
"The 18 team utilized unaltered stock lug nuts during Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway and each wheel had all five lug nuts attached to the wheel at the conclusion of the race. The team does acknowledge that not all lug nuts were tightened to the wheel."
Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck told Paste BN Sports the No. 18 ran afoul of a "crystal clear" policy.
"If you look at our wording, it says our expectation is for each wheel to have five lug nuts installed in a safe and secure manner," Buck said. "It doesn't get any clearer than that. We've communicated that to the industry. Our expectations have not been any clearer."
Buck said the violation was discovered during post-race inspection (he would not specify whether it was found at the racetrack or during further inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development Center).
The rules cited by NASCAR concerned both lug nuts and one that dealt with “parts that are designed to fail their intended use," which indicates at least one lug nut may have been for show and wasn't intended to be fastened on. Buck would not confirm that.
Wednesday's news continued an ongoing conversation about lug nuts in NASCAR. After Stewart accused NASCAR of playing it loose with safety and putting drivers and fans at risk by letting cars leave the pits with sometimes only three out of five lug nuts on the wheels, officials fined the driver/owner $35,000.
But they also promptly changed the rule, creating a policy that said all lug nuts must be “installed in a safe and secure manner” or else risk a fine a one-race crew chief suspension if the infraction was discovered after the race.
The rule immediately raised eyebrows because it’s not a rare occurrence for cars to finish the race with fewer than five lug nuts on the wheel. Kevin Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers tweeted at the time that even during the days when NASCAR had an inspector watching each car to ensure all five lug nuts were on, they “hardly ever” ended the race that way.
“I will sit at home for a week at some point,” he said of a likely suspension.
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