Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Cliff Daniels Suffers severe penalty for wheel infraction in Sonoma

Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Cliff Daniels Suffers severe penalty for wheel infraction in Sonoma

Kyle Larson with his crew chief Cliff Daniels

NASCAR’s outing in the California Wine Country was a quiet affair until the finish which created history as the No:99 Chevy Camaro ZL1 crossed the finish line first making the Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez the first-ever Mexican driver to win a cup race. The 3ed win for Trackhouse, as Suarez held off Chris Buescher in the final stages also, made the 30 years old only the fifth International driver to have won a cup race.

Hendrick Motorsports has been struggling as a team to get out of the race with a result that matches the high standards they have set for themselves over the years. The No:5 HMS Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver Kyle Larson, the defending cup series champion, has been struggling in the recent months to get his second win of the season as luck has been a constraint for the California native.

Going into the Sonoma Road Course in his home state Kyle Larson was all set to go for the win but failed to do so as he couldn’t convert his fourth consecutive pole to a win. The late-stage spin that got Larson out of contention in Sonoma was caused by a pit stop mistake which has now put the No:5’s championship defending crew chief Cliff Daniels under a four-race ban.

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Also read: ‘This is a f**** joke man,’ NASCAR Twitter reacts to the ‘easy decision’ to go back to the LA Colosseum for the 2023 Clash Race

Why is Kyle Larson’s No:5 team facing the penalty for the Sonoma incident?

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Kyle Larson’s No.5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 for Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte

NASCAR has announced the penalty for Kyle Larson’s team due to a loose wheel infraction that occurred as the race was entering the final 28 laps. Kyle Larson was exiting the green flag pit stop and as he made his way out of the stop and approached the first two turns of the race his right front wheel came off which made him go of course on turn 3. But Larson was able to limb back to the pit stop soon after and was able to salvage a P15 finish.

The penalty will be a major blow for the No:5 team which is already struggling for the last few race weekends and the team will surely miss their Championship winning crew chief for the coming days. Alongside the crew chief, crew members Brandon Johnson and Donnie Tasser will also see sitting out for the upcoming four-race weekends in Nashville, Road America, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway .

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Though hit with a severe penalty as the team was already disappointed in the poor finish after they lead the first 26 laps. The HMS team has announced that they will not be appealing the decision and will be announcing the interim crew chief for the coming races soon. This is the 10th time a team has been with such a penalty with the latest one being Koulig Racing in Kansas.

Also read: My journey was different,’ Daniel Suarez on his atypical NASCAR journey that makes his first career win at Sonoma special

How NASCAR Twitter reacted to the penalty given to Kyle Larson’s team

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Kyle Larson

NASCAR twitter had a mixed reaction to Kyle Larson ‘s crew chief getting penalized was a mixed one as there were many positive and negative comments coming his way for the incident. There were also criticism coming the way of NASCAR as the wheel penalty has been a regular occurrence after the cars changed to single wheel nut from five wheel nut.

Also read: ‘Ran out of steam there,’ Chris Buescher on what cost him a win as he failed to ‘get it done when it counted’ at Sonoma Raceway

Also read: “There’s a little bit less weight on my back right now,” Daniel Suarez on how the Sonoma Cup race win has been a pressure reliever