JOLIET, Ill. — Martin Truex Jr.’s race-winning car and Jimmie Johnson’s car both failed the Laser Inspection Station twice after Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway and are expected to face penalties this week.
NASCAR confirmed both failed by the lowest level, meaning there is no chance that Truex will be prevented from advancing to the next round via his victory. Truex told NBC Sports the car failed on the right rear.
The infraction would be a P2 level. The minimum penalty for such a violation is the loss of 10 driver and owner points and a $15,000 fine. The team failed the Laser Inspection Station last weekend at Richmond.
The penalty would be more severe for Johnson than Truex, since he’s advancing to the second round. Johnson finished 12th in Sunday’s race and is eighth in the points at this time.
A 10-point penalty would drop Johnson into a three-way tie for 12th — the final cutoff spot for the next round. Two races remain until the 16-driver field is cut to 12. Johnson holds the tiebreaker at this time over Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick because of the higher finish Sunday.
NASCAR also announced that Greg Biffle’s car was missing a lug nut on the right rear, and Aric Almirola’s car was missing a lug nut on the right front because of a broken right front stud.
Both would face a $10,000 fine for missing one lug nut.
Bummer on the LIS but after calming down I still love these guys. What a day 0.01* of toe must have been the dif 🙄 pic.twitter.com/10xD1wCXvP
— Cole Pearn (@colepearn) September 19, 2016