Penalties Take Over The Weekend At Richmond International Raceway

Published: 29^th Apr 12 12:04 am

by Christy Valdez
christy valdez

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Penalties Take Over The Weekend At Richmond International Raceway

Kevin Liles-US PRESSWIRE

Short track racing is known to bring tension to the track but Richmond International Raceway brought tensions and more.

Both weekend races at Richmond brought plenty of issues for several race teams. If the past few weeks had been drama free, this weekend definitely made up for it.

During the Nationwide race Friday night, Travis Pastrana made his debut but would finish out of the top 20 after a pit road penalty for too fast existing. Pastrana wouldn’t be the only one, as Cole Whitt suffered the same fate.

Pit road penalties were not the only ones in the Nationwide series. All Richard Childress Racing and Turner Motorsports cars had their bumpers taken after failing inspection. Both teams still await their penalties heading into the week.

In the Sprint Cup race several top teams suffered penalties as well. Five time champion Jimmie Johnson got a pit road penalty after a right rear tire went rolling during a stop. The most controversial penalty of the night came during one of the restarts when Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart were on the front row.

Edwards was black flagged for jumping the restart, getting a head start before time. He was also penalized for passing the No. 14 on the restart. Edwards dominated a good portion of the race until his penalty. Edwards and NASCAR officials met after the race but NASCAR’s said that the No.14 was the leader on the restart and Edwards jumped the restart.

Penalties took over the race weekend at Richmond with a couple of them hurting many teams’ title hopes. RCR and Turner Motorsports still await their fate meanwhile Edwards and Roush Fenway Racing try to clear out a mess from Richmond.

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