"It's not my definition of modifying a part": Joe Gibbs official pulls no punches on NASCAR's punishment to Chase Briscoe

NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing pushed back after NASCAR punished Chase Briscoe and the No. 19 team for supposedly changing the car’s spoiler base after the 2025 Daytona 500 earlier this month.

Team President Dave Alpern also defended the team and said that was not a real modification, just a small issue with how the spoiler was attached. Via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Alpern explained how some screw holes were offset to line them perfectly.

"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 and put the screws in. Well, when they attach the spoiler to the base, it has 21 pre-drilled holes in it, and they all don't line up perfectly. So we screwed the spoiler on, it passed inspection, it raced legally and it passed inspection afterward," Alpern said.

"When they took it off, some of the screw holes were offset again because when you go to install it, they don't line up perfectly. To me, that's not modifying a part like, it didn't make us go faster. We screwed something on, and it met the perfect template... So that's the best way I can explain it. That, again, is unfortunate, but it certainly wasn't, by my definition, modifying a part, something you would change to give yourself a performance advantage at all," he added.

The sanctioning body gave the No. 19 team a 100-point deduction, a $100,000 fine, and a four-race suspension for crew chief James Small. JGR has appealed the penalty, which is set for March 5.

Chase Briscoe, who debuted for the team at the Daytona 500, won the pole position and finished fourth.

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"A little bit different" - Chase Briscoe on early season penalty

Chase Briscoe was at -67 before the Amhealth 400 at Atlanta and is now left with negative 51 points after the first two races of the current NASCAR Cup Series season. However, Briscoe could get his points back if the appeal is successful.

The penalty was the biggest one since Briscoe’s No. 14 crew was fined $250,000 in 2023. That year, they also lost 125 owner and driver points and 25 playoff points after a counterfeit engine panel NACA duct was found during post-race inspections.

"It’s a little bit different, I would say, just with it being right at the beginning of the year...But if we don’t win the appeal...I don’t have any weekends that I can have, you know, bad. So, yeah, we’ll definitely change things, but you’re still gonna have to win if you want to be a championship contender. You have to win a race anyways to get into playoffs, and, yeah, hopefully, that’s what we can do," Chase Briscoe said (via NASCAR).

Briscoe joined JGR this season after Stewart-Haas Racing shut down at the end of last year. The 30-year-old has made the playoffs twice since debuting in the series in 2021.