“It raced legally”: JGR President shares crystal clear feelings on Chase Briscoe’s $100k L2 penalty

Joe Gibbs Racing responded to the $100,000 L2 penalty against Chase Briscoe over a modified spoiler at Daytona. JGR president Dave Alpern stressed that the modification did not make the No. 19 Toyota go faster and that the team raced legally.

To recall, NASCAR penalized JGR for an illegal spoiler days after the Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe, who won the pole position and finished fourth in the race, was docked 100 points and 10 playoff points, while the team received a $100,000 fine.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on X, Dave Alpern defended the Toyota-affiliated team over the penalty. He said the spoiler was modified to align the drill holes to the base, citing buying furniture from IKEA.

"My best explanation is like when you buy furniture from IKEA, and you get a couple of pieces and you have to line up the holes, you got to put to screws in, and they attach the spoiler to the base, it has 21 pre-drilled holes, and they don't line up perfectly," Alpern explained.

The team boss added:

"So we screwed the spoiler on, it passed the inspection, it raced legally, and passed the inspection afterwards."

Considering the spoiler was modified, Alpern claimed that the screw holes were offset when the race officials took the spoiler for inspection. He believes the team raced legally as the modification did not make the car go faster.

"They [NASCAR] will articulate to some degree by showing the variations in the holes [...] Unfortunate, certainly wasn't, by my definition of modifying a part... something you would modify to give yourself a performance advantage at all," he added.

A spoiler is an aerodynamic part attached to the back of a racecar. It is designed to create downforce, pushing the car down to the track to increase grip. This allows NASCAR drivers to run around speedways at high speeds with greater stability.

In addition to the fines and points deduction, NASCAR suspended No. 19 crew chief James Small for four races.

Following a strong outing at Daytona, Chase Briscoe only finished 21st in the Atlanta spring race to walk away with 16 points. With the massive penalty imposed, the 30-year-old driver sits dead last in the standings, scoring -51 points.

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Chase Briscoe remained optimistic amid L2 penalty

Chase Briscoe was in good spirits despite receiving an L2 penalty over an illegal modified spoiler. The 30-year-old driver believes he can deliver a good season in his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, citing the strong outing in the season-opener at Daytona.

Briscoe said (via Frontstretch on X):

"Just from an equipment standpoint, like the expectations, and just even the performance, just the small window I've had, it really just broke my brain. Daytona, like, it's been very eye-opening, just what I feel like I've been racing." [0:31]

He added:

"So, I'm super optimistic for this year, and yeah, I feel like, you know, I feel really good about where we're at as a race team."

Chase Briscoe will return to action at the Circuit of the Americas for the first road course race of the season. The 95-lap race will happen on March 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET.