Chase Briscoe won his appeal Wednesday to a 100-point penalty NASCAR issued after the Daytona 500 for holes in his spoiler base being bigger than when supplied to the team.
A three-member appeals panel overturned the penalty, which had included a four-race suspension to crew chief James Small and a fine of $100,000 to Joe Gibbs Racing.
“The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the No. 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part,” the panel said in a statement.
The points reversal vaults Briscoe from last in the standings to a tie for 14th in the standings with 72 points,
Hearing the appeal were longtime motorsports marketing executive Dixon Johnston, former Speed Channel president Hunter Nickell and former South Boston Speedway general manager Cathy Rice.
NASCAR does not have the option to try to reverse the decision on final appeal — an option available to teams/drivers if they lose an initial appeal.
