NASCAR suspends two Joe Gibbs Racing crew members

The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota pit crew has been banned for the next two NASCAR Cup Series races, the sanctioning body said Tuesday.

Tire changer Danny Olszowy and jackman Kellen Mills will miss the upcoming races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway as a result of a violation of NASCAR Rule Book Section 8.8.10.4.C, which covers the loss or separation of an incorrectly placed wheel from the car.

Martin Truex Jr. finished eleventh at Auto Club Speedway in an interesting race for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

The winner of the 2023 Clash at the L.A. Coliseum hasn't won a points race since Richmond in September 2021. However, complications on the pit road prevented him from visiting Victory Lane this past weekend.

Martin Truex Jr was penalized for equipment interference during the first pit stop of the race when a tyre rolled into a rival team's pit box. He drove back to the top-ten, only to discover a much worse problem.

Eventually, as Truex exited the pit road, the left-front wheel became loose and detached from the vehicle on the backstretch. As a result, a two-lap penalty was imposed. He recovered both laps and finished in the eleventh position, which was impressive.

On the backstretch at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 26, the No. 19 Toyota, raced by Martin had its left-front wheel detach from the vehicle. When the wheel broke loose past the pit exit, the two crewmen involved will be suspended for two weeks. The team was also given a two-lap penalty during the race.

This is the first penalty given for a wheel infringement in 2023. Before the season began, NASCAR's competition staff amended the rules concerning unattached wheels. If a team loses the wheel between pit entrance and pit exit, it will be charged a pass-through penalty under green flag circumstances, or will be forced to restart at the back of the field under caution.

Formerly, the crew chief would have faced a four-race suspension, but NASCAR decided to change the penalty ahead of the 2023 season.

There were no other penalties following the Cup and Xfinity Series races at Fontana.

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NASCAR's Kyle Busch discusses his development at Richard Childress Racing following a difficult time at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Kyle Busch made a statement on Sunday afternoon after winning his first race with Richard Childress Racing by dominating the Final Stage at Auto Club Speedway. This was Busch's second points race with the team.

After more than a decade with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, the driver of the No. 8 vehicle joined Richard Childress Racing. The departure of Busch's sponsor, Mars, created a situation in which the parties involved were unable to reach an agreement to maintain him in the No. 18 car.

"I’m not sure. You look at how the No. 8 car ran here last year, and they were fast. They had a really, really fast car, and I did the sim session stuff with them and worked on what they had here last year, and then kind of changed a couple things to what I felt like I could do or race better, be more comfortable racing for myself, and today it was just a completely different feeling of a race car than what I had here last year.

"I think that’s just different philosophies of how you go about it and what this group here is doing to build grip versus my old group.”

Busch is the most successful driver in NASCAR across all three levels, and he looked like himself on Sunday afternoon.