zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Matt Kenseth's Winning Car Failed NASCAR's Post-Race Tech
Matt Kenseth's Winning Car Failed NASCAR's Post-Race Tech-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:30

NASCAR Sprint Cup racer Matt Kenseth may have gotten to his daughters to —a huge live lobster presented to winners at New Hampshire Motor Speedway—but he has more to worry about than “will I get pinched?” Kenseth’s car failed NASCAR’s post-race technical inspection.

Kenseth’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed in the laser inspection station (LIS) that NASCAR uses to make sure all of the cars comply with series rules, per . Often an LIS failure means that body of the car has been tweaked for more side force, and thus, better turn-in on a short oval like New Hampshire, explains. That would give the car an unfair advantage over the others.

No penalties have been assessed at this time. To make sure they caught something, the car will return to NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Charlotte, N.C., for a full tear-down and more thorough inspection.

NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell explained on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio how they want to make sure there was actually a violation (as opposed to, say, something broken) before handing out a penalty:

A failure at track doesn’t necessarily mean a failure once we get it back to the R&D Center.

What we’re going to do, and the reason we bring it back to the R&D Center, is to look at what, if any, damage occurred to that car. What, if any, parts were broken? We’ve got the best engineers in the world, so were they manufactured to possibly break? We’ve got to go through all those things. If, after that, we determine if it’s still a violation, we would issue a penalty

One upside if you’re bored at work on Tuesday is that NASCAR broadcasts their post-race inspections for all to see. You can watch that instead of getting anything productive done tomorrow, starting at 8:00 a.m. ET.

If they find that the car was out of compliance, then a penalty will be issued. This isn’t the first time a Joe Gibbs Racing car has failed the LIS, notes . However, Kenseth’s No. 20 car has only been failed for this in practice and qualifying. Prior cars this season who failed post-race LIS were issued P3-level penalties, which is about halfway up NASCAR’s P1 through P6-level penalty scale. Those teams were penalized 15 driver and owner championship points and the crew chief was given a $25,000 fine.

In the meantime, I’m probably going to have vivid, terrifying nightmares about giant lobsters seeking revenge for all of their delicious brethren I’ve eaten over the years. Thanks, New Hampshire. Thanks a lot.

: Kenseth’s No. 20 car was given the standard penalty for an LIS failure after the failure was confirmed at NASCAR’s R&D center, per :

#20-Matt Kenseth was given a P3 penalty for violations of Sections 12.1; 20.17.3.1.2 [Failed the post-race Laser Inspection Station (LIS) measurements]. Crew chief (Jason Ratcliff) has been fined $25,000; team has been assessed with the loss of 15 championship owner and 15 championship driver points.

Kenseth keeps his race win.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
The McLaren F1 Team Hasn't Escaped Those Reliability Problems Yet
The McLaren F1 Team Hasn't Escaped Those Reliability Problems Yet
The finale of the Formula One season last year was a hard one for me. It was the end of a long, one-sided relationship I’d held with the partnership, in which the Honda engine miserably failed and I made constant, possibly annoying jokes about it. I really enjoyed the bond...
Oct 22, 2026
Tatiana Calderon Is The Sauber F1 Team's Newest Test Driver
Tatiana Calderon Is The Sauber F1 Team's Newest Test Driver
After former Formula One development driver Carmen Jorda in handfuls of languages when she said it would be easier for a woman to drive in Formula E than F1 because the car is “less physical,” the Sauber F1 team Tatiana Calderon as its newest test driver. Calderon, 24, was a...
Oct 22, 2026
NASCAR Will Be In Two Time Zones This Weekend Because Arizona Ignores Daylight Saving Time
NASCAR Will Be In Two Time Zones This Weekend Because Arizona Ignores Daylight Saving Time
While most of us don’t enjoy daylight saving time or , not practicing it when everyone else does sounds just as bad. Most of Arizona , and that means this weekend’s NASCAR races will happen in more than one time zone—at the same race track. On a map of the...
Oct 22, 2026
Watch Two Toyota Supras Pull Off A Ridiculous Tandem Drifting Jump
Watch Two Toyota Supras Pull Off A Ridiculous Tandem Drifting Jump
There’s good reason why we’re so impatient about the release of a new Toyota Supra: the original was really, truly legendary. So when Formula Drift driver Frederic Aasbø and two-time Gatebil Super 3 champion Tor-Anders Ringnes get their hands on a pair of Supras to drift on ice, you have...
Oct 22, 2026
NASCAR Drivers Are Pitching In Money To Help Sponsor One Of Their Own Competitors
NASCAR Drivers Are Pitching In Money To Help Sponsor One Of Their Own Competitors
NASCAR driver Matt DiBenedetto, the guy whose last name usually gets replaced ” online and whose reaction to finishing sixth at Bristol in 2016 , tweeted video Tuesday saying he was unsponsored for the race this weekend. Eight minutes later, his competitors started pitching in money. DiBenedetto is on the...
Oct 22, 2026
Stop Letting Carmen Jorda Speak For All Women
Stop Letting Carmen Jorda Speak For All Women
When a person like former Lotus Formula One development driver talks about how women are less capable as racing drivers than men—and she does, a lot—there’s an urge to treat it as an offhand comment with no merit. That’s particularly true when the person has a history of not helping...
Oct 22, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved