NASCAR penalty report released after Darlington weekend

There were no major penalties from the weekend’s racing at Darlington, NASCAR announced on Tuesday. In fact, there was only one infraction that hit the penalty report.

Joe Gibbs Racing was issued a $5,000 fine for an improperly secured lug nut on the car of Brandon Jones. The issue was found in the post-race inspection in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

In the NASCAR Cup Series, Denny Hamlin took home the win after a late caution came out and allowed him to make up some ground on pit road. Hamlin cruised to the win after getting a great jump on the overtime restart.

But while he will likely be thrilled with the weekend at Darlington, not everyone was. Some have some particular beef with elements of the racing the weekend provided.

Insider claims racing at Darlington has taken step back

A NASCAR insider was not impressed with the Cup Series race at Darlington on Sunday. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic explained why racing at Darlington has taken a step back.

“This is a one-groove racetrack, whereas, like a Kansas or Vegas or Charlotte, multiple grooves,” Bianchi said. “Here it’s one groove, so you really don’t have options to find that line and make passes. The other thing is the tire fall off. The tires are falling off how they should. The tires are doing their job.

“The problem is all the teams are essentially hitting that moment at the exact same time, so they’re really isn’t any comers and goers. It isn’t like these three teams are hitting on it five laps earlier or these teams over here are not, and then these guys are passing each other, that kind of thing. It’s a continuation of that, and then these cars are equal. It’s all of these things and it combines to make a race that we saw where it’s track position, track position, track position.”

That obviously can lead to some big swings as NASCAR drivers like Denny Hamlin take advantage of every minute detail to get a leg up on the field. Pit crews were at a premium on Sunday.

In fact, Ryan Blaney might have had a shot at the win, but he had a poor pit stop on the final caution before the overtime restart. And that was enough to cost him the win.

In any case, at least it was a relatively clean weekend at Darlington. There were remarkably few penalties.