NASCAR Update: Tony Stewart & Brad Keselowski’s NASCAR Teams’ “Illegal” Tactics Meet Severe Repercussions

Going into the first road course race of the Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas, Stewart Haas Racing and RFK have been handed a big blow by NASCAR officials after the inspection of their team cars. Ryan Preece’s No. 41 car was found to have illegal valve spring adjustments. And Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford car was penalized for having an unapproved adjustment to the steering rack.

With the illegal and unapproved adjustments, the NASCAR officials have dealt a big blow to both Ford cars. They will be starting the road course race at COTA from the rear. Buescher, after the qualifying rounds, was placed in the 20th starting position, whereas Ryan Preece was placed in the 24th spot.

SHR’s recurring theme of the parts penalty will prove costly for them in the season

This is not the first instance where Stewart Haas Racing has been penalized for illegal adjustments. NASCAR officials did confiscate the roof rails of the No. 10 and No. 41 cars after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This resulted in two L1 penalties, which saw both teams stripped of 35 driver and owner points.

There was a big penalty last season for No. 14 driver Chase Briscoe’s car after the inspection at the Coca-Cola 600 race at Daytona. Upon inspection, the NASCAR officials concluded that SHR used a counterfeit part for the 14-car and brandished an L-3 penalty. This penalty docked 120 drivers and owner points from the standings as well as a $250,000 fine.

Time and again, the SHR crew at work with these cars has tried to bend the rules too much, and unfortunately, they have been apprehended by the officials on several occasions. The parts used on the cars were team-made and not single-sourced, which means they were made in the SHR shops. Ford is the single-source provider for the SHR, but it looks like both parties have not seen eye to eye in recent times.

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The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is the last year that will see Ford provide its parts and body to Tony Stewart’s co-owned SHR team. SHR has been struggling to find wins, and the 2023 season was a nightmare, but not a whole lot has changed for them with the turn of the new season. Instead, they are provided with inferior treatment by their manufacturer, who have upgraded Front Row Motorsport’s stature as a Tier-1 team with a new contract extension.

It was back in 2017 that SHR jumped ship, joining Ford. At the time, the team felt that Chevrolet was leaning heavily on Hendrick Motorsports, and they sort of became like a second fiddle to the winngest team. However, they are facing a similar situation this season, and for the time being, there’s no new OEM that they can join hands with. There are rumors about Honda making his NASCAR debut soon, but that still leaves SHR in a pickle as there has been no official confirmation about Honda joining NASCAR.

At the current pace and the ongoing trend of running into penalties, getting back to winning ways is going to be an uphill climb for the SHR team.