Brad Keselowski penalized six points for car being too low at Dover

NASCAR has penalized defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski six driver points for a rules infraction committed following Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway.

The front nose of Keselowski’s Ford was found to be too low during post-race technical inspection. Penske Racing later said it was a parts failure that caused the No. 2 car not to meet the minimum height mandated by NASCAR.

In addition, crew chief Paul Wolfe has been fined $25,000 and remains on probation until Dec. 31.

This is the second time this season the No. 2 has been found to be in violation of the NASCAR rule book.

Prior to the April race at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR confiscated the rear-end housings from the cars of Keselowski and his Penske teammate Joey Logano. Officials determined the suspension parts and pieces had not been approved by NASCAR.

Four days later NASCAR docked Keselowski and Logano 25 points and fined Wolfe and Todd Gordon, Logano’s crew chief, $100,000 each. Additionally, both crew chiefs, car chiefs and lead engineers for each team along with the team manager for Penske were suspended six races.

The suspensions were reduced to two races upon appeal. Dover was the first race Wolfe and the other crew members were eligible to return to the track.

As a result of the penalty, Keselowski drops from eighth in the series standings to 10th, and sits just eight points ahead of 11th-place Jeff Gordon. On the year the No. 2 team has been penalized a total of 31 points. Without the reductions Keselowski would be ranked fourth overall and well inside the top-10 cutoff to make the Chase.