Justin Haley, RWR disqualified from COTA NASCAR Cup race
A random inspection turned into a disqualification for NASCAR Cup driver Justin Haley and Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 team on Sunday.
NASCAR typically takes one or more cars back to its R&D Center in Concord, N.C., following Cup races and planned to take two cars back following the conclusion of Sunday’s race at Circuit of the Americas.
The cars selected were Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 and Trackhouse Racing's No. 1 Chevrolet driven by Ross Chastain. In preparation for the transport back to North Carolina, various checks are done on the cars, including weight, a NASCAR spokesperson said.
The No. 51 was found to not meet minimum post-race weight requirements (Rulebook Section 14.11.2) and was disqualified from the event. Haley was dropped from 17th to 39th (last in the running order).
A team spokesperson said RWR would not appeal.
RWR, and Haley’s team especially, has been running much improved of late. After a strong showing at Bristol, Haley started 13th for Sunday’s race at COTA – the team’s best-ever qualifying effort.
Haley ran in the top 10 a good part of Sunday’s race before fading to 17th on the long green flag run that ended the day.
“We had an OK day. I thought we did everything right up until the end when we had a slow pit stop and kind of faded from there,” Haley said after the race. “I am really happy with the results we are getting. We have such a small team, and we are trying as hard as we can.”
Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet was still taken back to the R&D Center for an additional inspection this week.
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