Kyle Busch’s crew chief, 2 crew members suspended by NASCAR for wheel coming off car

Kyle Busch will be without crew chief Adam Stevens, tire changer Jacob Seminara, and tire carrier Kenneth Barber after each was suspended four races by NASCAR Wednesday for a wheel coming off Busch’s car during Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.

While making a pit stop, Busch left his stall before his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team had tightened the left-rear wheel, which caused the wheel to roll off the car when Busch began to go back on the track.

NASCAR also handed the same penalty to Camping World Truck Series driver Chase Briscoe and his Brad Keselowski Racing team for a wheel coming off Briscoe’s truck in Friday’s race at Dover.

Per the NASCAR rulebook, a wheel coming off the car automatically triggers a minimum four-race suspension for the crew chief, tire changer and tire carrier: “Loss of wheel(s) due to improper installation will result in a mandatory minimum four Race suspension of the crew chief, tire changer and tire carrier of the lost wheel(s).”

While there is no disputing a wheel came off the vehicles of Busch and Briscoe, both teams contend the violation wasn’t deliberate with the intention of saving time on pit road but a simple mistake. Team owners Joe Gibbs and Brad Keselowski each said separately over the Dover race weekend that intent should be taken into consideration when issuing penalties.

“At the end of the day intent matters,” Keselowski said Saturday. “The intent of the rule was to make sure guys don’t put three lug nuts on and have a wheel come off and say, ‘Awe, too bad’. That isn’t what happened in the scenario we had.

“It was a mistake. It’s the difference between murder and manslaughter. Intent matters.”

JGR will not appeal the four-race suspensions. Race engineer Ben Beshore will serve as interim crew chief during Stevens’ absence. BKR is evaluating whether it will file an appeal.