NASCAR hands down three penalties following Indianapolis, RCR crew chief affected

After the race weekend at Indianapolis, NASCAR officials have penalized crew chiefs Andy Street, Blake Bainbridge and Tyler Young for lug nuts-related issues. Street is Austin Hill's crew chief in the Xfinity Series, while Bainbridge and Young are crew chiefs in the Craftsman Truck Series.

After the Pennzoil 250 and TSport 200 races concluded on July 20th and July 19th respectively, NASCAR officials conducted post-race inspections of the grid. They found three cars (one Xfinity and two Truck Series) in violation of Safety Sections 8.8.10.4a regarding tires and wheels during the inspection. All race cars had at least one lug nut unsecured.

This resulted in hefty fines being imposed on each team's crew chief. Andy Street was fined $5,000 for the #21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro in the Xfinity Series, while Blake Bainbridge and Tyler Young were fined $2,500 each for the #43 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and #46 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet trucks respectively.

This is not the first time RCR's crew chief has been penalized. Street was reprimanded with a similar $5,000 fine for the violation of section 8.8.10.4a after the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 race at the Sonoma Raceway.

Apart from the fines, all three teams had good results in their respective races, with Austin Hill finishing sixth in the Pennzoil 250 race, and Daniel Dye and Thad Moffitt ending 27th and 32nd respectively in the TSport 200 race.

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A brief look at Austin Hill's 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with Richard Childress Racing

Austin Hill during the Qualifying session of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 weekend (Source: Getty)

On the back of two successful seasons in 2022 and 2023, the one-time Truck Series regular season champion Austin Hill began the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series confidently.

The Richard Childress Racing driver began the year with back-to-back wins at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hill continued this top-10 form till Texas Motor Speedway race weekend (fourth in Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, second at Circuit of The Americas, eighth at Richmond Raceway, and sixth at Texas), with the exception of a DNF at Martinsville Speedway.

The #21 driver has been consistent throughout the 20 races so far, with two wins, one pole position, eighth Top 5s, and 13 Top 10 finishes. The highlights of his 2024 season have been the races at Daytona, Darlington Raceway, Las Vegas, the Chicago Street Race, and Atlanta Motor Speedway where he scored 59, 53, 46, 43, and 43 points respectively.

Apart from a total of 674 points in the regular season, the Georgia-based driver has also secured his place in the Playoffs with two wins. As of now, Austin Hill is in the third position in the driver's championship behind Cole Custer (761 points) and Justin Allgaier (705 points).