Aric Almirola’s playoff hopes took a big hit Wednesday after NASCAR penalized his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team for failing post-race technical inspection following Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports hit with big penalties
Almirola goes from being just one point out of the playoffs to 36 points behind the final transfer position.
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
NASCAR docked Almirola and RPM 35 driver and owner points, respectively, along with suspending crew chief Drew Blickensderfer three races and fining him $65,000. The points deduction drops Almirola from 17th in the standings to 20th, but instead of trailing Trevor Bayne for the final provisional playoff spot by one point he’s now 36 points behind. Eighteen Monster Energy Cup Series regular season races remain.
Inspectors determined the No. 43 Ford had too much rear suspension skew after Almirola finished fourth at Talladega. NASCAR altered its rules over the offseason to prohibit teams from tweaking the skew to make a corner better.
The penalties issued to Almirola mirror those handed to Brad Keselowski and Team Penske after officials found a similar violation on Keselowski’s car earlier this season.
RPM will not appeal the penalties. The team co-owned by NASCAR icon Richard Petty appointed engineering director Scott McDougall as Almirola’s interim crew chief. Blickensderfer will sit out point races at Kansas Speedway (Saturday night), Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 28), and Dover International Speedway (June 4), but is permitted to work the non-points All-Star Race (May 20).
“We accept NASCAR’s decision and will continue to work to get the most out of our race cars every week while maintaining the NASCAR rulebook,” the team said in a statement. “We look forward to Kansas this weekend.”
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