NASCAR confiscated the roof rail deflectors from the Stewart-Haas Racing cars driven by Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece during pre-race inspection Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The No. 10 team (Gragson) and No. 41 team (Preece) have replaced the parts for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR will continue to inspect the parts and any penalties will be announced next week.
Neither team will be penalized for race weekend. No details were given as to why NASCAR confiscated the parts.
Per section 14.5.6.1 of the NASCAR Rule Book, the roof deflectors:
· Must be constructed of 0.05-inch-thick aluminum
· Must be installed perpendicular to the inspection surface in the applicable recessed slots on the greenhouse and roof flaps
· Must not interfere with the functioning of the roof flaps
· Must be painted
Cup Series teams will get on track Saturday morning for single-car qualifying. Sunday is the second race of the season.
Stewart-Haas Racing was hit with an L3 level penalty last year on Chase Briscoe’s No. 14 team for a counterfeit part found in late May. The team was docked 120 points (driver and owner) and 25 playoff points. Briscoe failed to win a race or make the postseason, finishing 30th in the championship standings.