Why did NASCAR penalize the number 43 car of 60 points and 5 playoff points?

Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones' NASCAR Cup Series weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway is one to forget for the #43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver and his team.

Depite finishing in the top-20 after a string of lowly finishing positions, the Enjoy Illinois 300 at the track better known as Gateway Motorsports Park spelled disaster for the driver and team on and off the 1.25-mile-long Madisson, Illinois track.

The 300-mile-long event saw Jones have troubles on pit road when a misjudgement between front tire changer and carrier saw the #43 driver strike Thomas Hatcher, a front tire changer with his car.

Hatcher was taken to hospital immediately as he took the brunt of the impact. While positive news has followed after that incident, NASCAR seems to have found discrepancies with the team's car itself.

The governing body levied an L1-level penalty to the team after finding illicit modifications to the #43 Chevrolet's greenhouse. The car failed to comply in the post-race inspection with the front, rear and side glass areas of the car coming under scrutiny as the greenhouse. As a result, the team and driver have been fined a deduction of 60 regular season points, 5 playoff points as well as a $75,000 fine by NASCAR.

The governing body has been clamping down on rulebook violations with clear intent as the penalty is considered to be a light one when compared to Stewart-Haas Racing's L3-level penalty. Considered to be one of the biggest in the sport's history, L3-level penlaties are handed out for serious infractions.

While drivers who find themselves on the wrong end of the spectrum not enjoying their time, the Cup Series field seems to be on board with NASCAR governing the sport more strictly than ever.

Erik Jones reflects on his penalty levied by NASCAR ahead of this weekend's race at Sonoma Raceway

Driver of the #43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Legacy Motor Club, Erik Jones spoke about how he and the team will be dealing with the penalty during the remaining season. Having just won at Berlin Raceway in the Flo Racing Late Model Series, Jones elaborated on his plan of action in the Cup Series and said:

"I talked to guys there yesterday afternoon when we found out about it. Obviously unfortunate, don't know what the plan of attack is. Hopefully we can find a path through that and just a bummer for a lot of reasons. if we do keep our penalty here, we gotta go win one."

Watch NASCAR go live from Sonoma Raceway this Sunday for a change of pace in the Cup Series with some road-course racing action.