NASCAR issues L-1 penalty to Austin Dillon and RCR for decklid issue

Austin Dillon and his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team have been issued an L-1 penalty for a technical infraction last weekend at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Dillon and team were docked 10 points in the driver and owner championship. That drops him to 14th in the championship standings, nine ahead of the 16th and final playoff spot, occupied by Jimmie Johnson. The sanctioning body fined Dillon's crew chief Danny Stockman $25,000 and has suspended car chief Gregory Ebert for this weekend's Gander RV 400 at the Dover International Speedway

NASCAR inspectors discovered body filler on the rear deck lid of the No. 3 Dow Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on Saturday. That violated NASCAR rule Sections 20.4 Body; 20.4.11 Deck Lid; 20.20. The rule declares that teams cannot add body filler after they receive the part from the manufacturer.

Officials confiscated the part and sent it to their research and development center in Concord, North Carolina for scrutinization.

Dillon would go on to score the pole later that day for the Geico 500 and finished 14th in the race.

NASCAR also levied a penalty to Ryan Blaney's crew chief Jeremy Bullins. He was fined $10,000 for a lug nut issue discovered after the race on the No.12 Team Penske Ford Mustang.