Chris Buescher Penalized 60 Points After NASCAR Finds Car Assembled Improperly
After Sunday’s race at Kansas, NASCAR officials have penalized Chris Buescher 60 points due to his car being assembled improperly. The car was taken back to the NASCAR R&D center where it was found to have exceeded the maximum reinforcement allowed for its front bumper cover.
Chris Buescher, who finished eighth at Kansas and was 12th in the standings, has now dropped to 28th place in the standings, 226 points behind points leader William Byron. In addition to the points penalty, Buescher’s No. 17 team was fined $75,000 and crew chief Scott Graves was suspended for two races.
With the penalty pushing him further down the standings, Buescher is facing a must-win scenario to secure a spot in the playoffs over the final 14 races of the regular season. Despite a challenging season, Buescher has shown strong performances with a top-five finish and six top-10 finishes this season. He has also secured five wins in the past three seasons, including three wins in five races in 2023 and a victory at Watkins Glen in 2024.
The penalty exacerbates the struggles for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, with Buescher being the team’s top driver this season. Now, two of the team’s drivers are outside the top 20 in points.
Ryan Preece, currently 18th in the standings, faced a setback after being disqualified following the Talladega race for an inspection failure. Despite finishing second, Preece was dropped to 38th due to a spoiler violation. Meanwhile, team co-owner Brad Keselowski is 32nd in the standings, still trailing Buescher by 53 points. Keselowski has yet to secure a top-10 finish this season and is only ahead of Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Shane van Gisbergen, and Cody Ware among full-time drivers.