Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing have won an appeal against their penalty from the 2025 Daytona 500, giving Briscoe back the points he accrued during the NASCAR Cup Series’ season-opening race, NASCAR announced March 5.
Crew chief James Small, who had been suspended for four races as part of the initial penalty, has also been reinstated, though Small had not missed any races while the appeal played out.
Briscoe had been docked 100 points after finishing fourth in the Daytona 500 due to what NASCAR deemed a violation of spoiler modification rules to his No. 19 found in post-race inspection.
Following the appellate hearing, the panel decided that “the elongation of some of the holes on the [No.] 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part.”
Through three races, Briscoe has one top five and top 10, coming at Daytona International Speedway. The rescinding of the penalty should give him 72 points, placing him in a tie for 15th.
Rutherford is the managing editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2015 after serving on the editing staff for two years. At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.