Chase Briscoe’s dream week has quickly turned into a nightmare. In a dramatic turn of events, Joe Gibbs Racing and the driver have been levied heavy penalties after illegal modifications were found on the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE after the Daytona 500. The car was randomly selected by the sanctioning body to be taken back to its R&D department after the season opener, where they discovered that its spoiler was illegally modified.

The L2 level penalty is a major blow for Briscoe, who had finished fourth at ‘The Great American Race’. After a rocky start to his Joe Gibbs Racing career, will the Indiana native turn his latest setback into the biggest comeback of his career?

Chase Briscoe faces an uphill climb after incurring a severe penalty

Chase Briscoe had made quite a start to his Cup Series career. The 30-year-old started from the pole at the Daytona 500 after the fastest timed lap in qualifying and led four laps at the ‘World Center of Racing’ before eventually settling for a fourth-place finish. It was a positive result for the Indiana native, who appeared to have settled well in his new team, finishing higher than Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs at the crown-jewel event. However, it seems fate had other plans, which might hinder the No. 19 JGR team in the long run.

In a tweet posted by The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, the motorsports journalist said, “Holy crap, huge penalty just announced. Chase Briscoe was found to have a modification to the spoiler. Loses 100 points, 10 playoff points and James Small gone for four races. Team fined $100k. Wow, massive stuff to start the year.” According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, the illegal modification was made to the “spoiler base, where the spoiler base bolts to the deck lid”, which is a single source vendor part and cannot be modified according to NASCAR’s rules.

To say that it’s a massive blow for Briscoe and the No. 19 JGR team would be an understatement. Despite accumulating 33 points at the Daytona 500, his 100 point deduction means the racer now sits last in the Cup Series standings with -67 points going into the 2025 AmBetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Depending on the results, it will take the Indiana native at least two races to get on the positive side of the points tally. Losing 10 playoff points is equivalent to two race wins or 10 stage wins, which may prove to be a crucial factor if the driver makes it to the playoffs.

According to NASCAR, “JGR was found to be in violation of Section 14.1 of the Rule Book, which pertains to overall assembled vehicles rules, and 14.5.8, which deals with the spoiler.” One can argue that losing his crew chief James Small for four races could be the biggest blow of them all. Chase Briscoe is still building a rapport with his man atop the pit box, and the current circumstances mean the racer must secure a victory to make it to the postseason. Even though Truex Jr. managed to point his way to the playoffs last year, the 100 point dedication makes it virtually impossible for the 30-year-old to do the same.

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NASCAR hands over two more penalties

It seems like NASCAR is leaving no stone unturned to punish teams that have been found guilty of discrepancies. Ahead of the Daytona 500, the sanctioning body had ejected Chris Lawson, crew chief for Todd Gilliland at Front Row Motorsports, and Billy Plourde, crew chief for Cody Ware at Rick Ware Racing for improper weights of their cars. However, after Chase Briscoe’s severe penalty, the sport’s hierarchy have come down on Gilliland and Ware after the crown jewel event, taking things from bad to worse.

According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, the journalist tweeted, “Todd Gilliland and FRM No. 34 team and Cody Ware and RWR No. 51 team docked 10 points for ballast not in the proper ballast containers for prerace tech.” Violating safety rules isn’t something NASCAR takes lightly, and the sanctioning body will also be deducting 10 points from the owner’s standing as a result of this discrepancy.

It’s clear that the sanctioning body is making a statement by handing out these early season penalties. After the controversies from 2024, NASCAR is leaving nothing to chance and is coming hard on drivers and teams that have been found guilty of infringing the rules. Could Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland and Cody Ware’s penalties serve as an example to deter other teams from bending the rules? That remains to be seen. But it has been quite an explosive start to the Cup Series this year, and things will only get more interesting in the weeks ahead.