NASCAR revealed that the Front Row Motorsports team of Michael McDowell has been handed an L2 penalty complete with a large monetary fine and point docking in their penalty report released on July 26.
The L2 penalty comes after NASCAR found the team to have modified a single source supplied part.
McDowell’s crew chief Blake Harris has been fined $100,000 and suspended for the next four NASCAR Cup Series events according to the report. In addition, the No. 34 team has been deducted 100 driver and owner points and will be deducted 10 playoff points if the team qualifies for the post-season.
The infraction was found after NASCAR randomly selected the vehicles of the No. 34 and the No. 47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr to be taken back to NASCAR R&D for further inspection.
McDowell is the second team to be handed an L2 penalty after Brad Keselowski‘s No. 6 team was hit with a similar infraction earlier this year.
The No. 34 was credited with a sixth-place finish this most recent weekend at Pocono Raceway after both original race winner Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified.
McDowell has been having his career-best season, statistically speaking, as he has earned eight top 10s and one top five so far in 2022. Before the penalty, he was 20th in standings, 207 points behind the cut line, but now will likely be scored in 26th.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT