NASCAR has come out and issued penalties to two crew members from #99-Ben Rhodes, ThorSport Racing, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series- for blunders that happened during the Allegiance 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Both members have received a two-race suspension from the stock car association.
The suspension has been issued for an incident that took place in the final stage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville, where Ben Rhodes’ #99 vehicle was serviced in the pits, and soon after, the left rear wheel came off the car.
#99 ThorSport Racing’s jackman Evan Clay and rear tire changer Pedro Martinez are the two crew members who have been suspended for two Craftsman Truck Series races. Motorsports Journalist Bon Pockrass confirmed the same on the social media platform X, as his tweet read,
“Ben Rhodes rear changer Pedro Martinez and jackman Evan Clay suspended for next two races for wheel coming off at Nashville.”
According to NASCAR’s official documents, the infraction was,
“Sections 8.8.10.4A & 10.5.2.5D: Tires and Wheels; Safety Violations. Note: Loss or separation of an improperly installed tire/wheel from the vehicle during the event.”
The penalty for the same, as mentioned in the official document by the NASCAR officials, read,
“Pedro Martinez and Evan Clay have been suspended from the next two NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship points event, through and including San Diego, June 16, 2026.”
Martinez and Clay will miss the upcoming two races, i.e., Michigan International Speedway and Coronado Street Course. As per the roster, Jabari Carney and Matt Kurinyj will serve as jackman and the rear tire changer, respectively, for the upcoming race at Michigan International Speedway.
Quinta Funderburk has also been issued an indefinite suspension and was found in violation of Sections 4.1 & 10.1.A, which govern the Substance Abuse Policy (SAP)
NASCAR provides clarity on why Austin Dillon wasn’t penalized for the Brad Keselowski incident at Nashville
Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski were battling back and forth at the Nashville Superspeedway. During a restart, Keselowski and Dillon took the low line to avoid the car bunching up ahead of them. The Richard Childress Racing driver hit the bumper of the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver while doing so, spinning him into Austin Cindric’s Penske.
Also Read: NASCAR Clears Austin Dillon: No Penalty For Brad Keselowski Crash At Nashville
NASCAR Senior Director of Racing Communications Amanda Ellis came out on the Hauler Talk podcast and detailed why Dillon wasn’t penalized, as she said,
“Scott Miller pulled all the data from that incident, and we knew pretty quickly that Austin was out of the throttle (before hitting Keselowski). They obviously tangled on the track, and then the incident happened, right? But we were able to tell pretty quickly that it wasn’t a situation where Austin was in the gas or anything related to that.”
“Those two (drivers) clearly kind of had some differences of opinion throughout the race. And so that one is really more of just a racing incident, and that’s really how NASCAR viewed it on Sunday night,” she added
Brad Keselowski’s spotter TJ Majors took to the team radio after the crash and suggested that Dillon intentionally wrecked him. The #6 RFK driver echoed similar sentiments during the post-race interviews.
