$100,000 penalty retained for Chase Briscoe's teammate Cole Custer

At Thursday's hearing, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel retained the penalty assessed by NASCAR to Chase Briscoe's teammate Cole Custer at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course earlier this month.

Custer was penalized for intentionally slowing his #41 car on the final lap of the Round of 12 race at Charlotte ROVAL, which allowed teammate Chase Briscoe to advance to the Round of 8 with a two-point lead over 2021 Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson.

Cole Custer and his crew chief Michael Shiplett are still fined $100,000 each, and Shiplett was indefinitely suspended as a result of violations of section 5.5 in NASCAR's rule book, which states that drivers must race at 100% of their ability and take strict action against drivers who intend to manipulate the race’s result. Additionally, Custer and his Stewart-Haas Racing team remained penalized 50 points in their respective points table.

The Stewart-Haas Racing penalty was heard by a three-member panel that included Dixon Johnston, Dale Pinillis, and Bill Mullis. Stewart-Haas Racing has the right to appeal Thursday’s decision to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer per the NASCAR Rule Book. However, the team has not said if it will do so.

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NASCAR Vice President spoke about Chase Briscoe’s teammate Cole Custer’s actions at Charlotte ROVAL

NASCAR vice president Scott Miller earlier this month stated that comments by crew chief Michael Shiplett proved that Chase Briscoe’s teammate Cole Custer’s actions on the final laps at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course were intentional. He also mentioned that after analyzing the car's data and the video, there is no doubt that the #41 car driver's move was deliberate.

Miller said:

“The data was pretty telling, and then we got to the audio and had the crew chief telling the driver that ‘I think you’ve got a flat, check up, check up, check up’ when he couldn’t even see the car or have any idea whatsoever that the car might have a flat. Pretty telling as to what went on there. That coupled with the data and the video … nothing contradicted that that was done deliberately by those individuals. We were forced to react.”

Catch Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer in the elimination race of Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, October 30th, 2022. The race will begin at 2:00 pm ET on NBC and MRN.