Speeding In The Pits: Race 4 - Food City 500 Penalties

Monday, March 19, 2012

Race 4 - Food City 500 Penalties

Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

What looked to be a great finish went south in the late going of Sunday's Food City 500 for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his National Guard, Diet Mountain Dew race team. Under the final caution for the event with less than 20 laps remaining, Earnhardt was caught speeding entering the pits. The penalty dropped Earnhardt out of the top 10 and the Kannapolis, North Carolina driver was unable to make up any ground in the final handful of laps. The misfortune was capped off with a flat tire in the final two laps of the event dropping Earnhardt from 14th to a 15th place finish.

Penalty Report - Bristol

Number/Driver, Lap, Infraction, Penalty
#30 David Stremme, Pre-Race to the rear, Tail of Field, Transmission
#36 Dave Blaney, Pre-Race to the rear, Tail of Field, Transmission
#9 Marcos Ambrose, 24, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#18 Kyle Busch, 24, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#99 Carl Edwards, 24, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#5 Kasey Kahne, 24, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#29 Kevin Harvick, 24, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#23 Scott Riggs, 29, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field*
#78 Regan Smith, 29, Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
#32 Ken Schrader, 115, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#98 Michael McDowell, 118, Speed-Exiting pits, Tail of Field
#18 Kyle Busch, 118, Speed-Exiting pits, Tail of Field
#38 David Gilliland, 338, Speed-Exiting pits, Pass Thru
#30 David Stremme, 341, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#24 Jeff Gordon, 361, Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
#78 Regan Smith, 368, Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Field
#88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 480, Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Field
#83 Landon Cassill, 481, Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Field
#9 Marcos Ambrose, 481, Speed-Entering pits, Tail of Field

*Note that Scott Riggs was not involved in the cause of the caution flag nor did he have any other reason to pit before the pits were open.

Thank you to NASCAR Statistics and TheHotLap.com for the information.

Penalty Color Key

Pink - Pre-race Penalty
Orange - Penalty For Pitting Before Pit Road Is Open/Too many crew member(s) in contact with pit service area
Red - Driver Induced Penalty
Green - Pit Crew Induced Penalty
White - Verbal Abuse Toward Official/Safety Violation

Red, green and white designated penalties are considered to be "serious" penalties as they have a more significant affect on the outcome of a driver and team's finish than pink and orange designated penalties.

Please note that NASCAR does not have different designations for penalties. The color designation is for the purpose of this website only.

NASCAR's Race Penalty Procedures

* Driver change before start of the race
PENALTY: Start at the tail of the field

* Use of a backup car after qualifications
PENALTY: Start at the tail of the field

* Engine and/or transmission change after qualifications
PENALTY: Start at the tail of the field

* Adjustments made to car after impound
PENALTY: Start at the tail of the field

* Miss driver's meeting/driver introductions

PENALTY: Start at the tail of the field

* Impeding a competitor during qualifying
PENALTY: Qualifying lap disallowed

* Pitting before Pit Road is open
PENALTY: Restart at the tail of the field

* Too many crew member(s) in contact with pit service area
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Pitting out of order
PENALTY: Restart at the tail of the field

* Car must enter pit road in single file
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Speeding - Entering/Exiting pits
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* All passing on pit road must be to the outside on entry
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Driving through more than 3 pit boxes
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Car pitting out of the assigned pit box
PENALTY: 1 lap

* Crew member interfering with another team's pit stop
PENALTY: NASCAR Discresion

* Running the stop & go sign/light
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Going above the blend line exiting the pits
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Passing the caution car/truck
PENALTY: 1 lap

* Pulling up to pit (drivers must maintain position in relation to field or face penalty)
PENALTY 1 lap

* Jumping the start/restart
PENALTY: Pass through pits

* Passing after turn three (3) on "One to Go''
PENALTY: Pass through pits

* Passing on a start or restart (before start/finish line)
PENALTY: Pass through pits

* Disobeying NASCAR request
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Intentionally causing a caution
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Disobeying Black Flag
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Commitment Line Violation
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Passing under the double yellow line (at Daytona or Talladega)
PENALTY: Must pass through pits

* Blocking a driver under the yellow line (at Daytona or Talladega)
PENALTY: Must pass through pits

* Disqualification of qualifying time
PENALTY: Start at tail of the field

* Use of extension poles are limited/not self illuminated
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Crew member(s) over the wall too soon
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Crew member(s) returning from equipment side of wall
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Front air wrench must be carried back to pit wall side of car
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Using more than two (2) air wrenches during one pit stop
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Non-Compliant refueling
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Tossing or throwing the fuel filler/equipment
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Tire violation-Removing outside tire acceptable/Rolling a tire(s) beyond the center of pit road
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Unapproved adjustment to car
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Removing equipment from assigned pit area
PENALTY: Stop and Go

* Running over/under equipment
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Hand pushing car more than 3 pit boxes
PENALTY: Must pass through pits under green; Restart at the tail of the field if under yellow

* Refueling car before the affected car receives the green flag on the race track or does not complete the designated race distance (competition yellow)
PENALTY: Minimum 1 lap

* Verbal abuse to a NASCAR official
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion

* Safety violation
PENALTY: NASCAR Discretion