Officials suspend two JGR crew members for No. 11’s detached wheel at Bristol

NASCAR officials suspended a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing crew members for two races following a safety violation during last Saturday's Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway, where a wheel detached from Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin's right-front wheel became dislodged during the 384th of 500 laps in Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race. His No. 11 car made contact with AJ Allmendinger's No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, prompting the 13th of 14 yellow flags in the event. Race officials issued a two-lap penalty to Hamlin during the caution period, and he finished five laps down in 31st place. RELATED: Cup Series standings | Weekend schedule: NHMS Competition officials completed the penalty process Tuesday with suspensions for the two Cup Series races for two No. 11 crew members: Austin Maloney (front-tire changer) and Joel Bouagnon (jack). According to FOX Sports and verified with NASCAR's roster portal, the penalty will be deferred for one week under a new rule introduced ahead of the 2025 campaign. Mike Forde, NASCAR's managing director of racing communications, said the two crewmen's suspension would instead begin at Kansas and run through the Oct. 5 Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. "What we did at the beginning of the year was we said that if there is a suspension that's not a behavioral penalty, that the suspension can be deferred without an appeal request for the next event following the issuance of the penalty," Forde said during the latest recording of the "Hauler Talk" podcast. "So if the 11 team would like for their two crew members to be part of the New Hampshire race, they can request a deferral. The appeals administrator would be the one who does grant that or not grant that. There is pretty much 100% success rate (of granting the deferral)." Hamlin, a five-time winner in the Cup Series this year, advanced out of the playoffs' opening round by winning the Sept. 7 race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. He enters the re-seeded Round of 12 standings as the points leader, ranking 26 points above the cutline. Hamlin is a three-time winner at New Hampshire, the site of Sunday's Mobil 1 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). NASCAR officials also indicated that two Cup Series cars were all clear Tuesday after a further inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina. Those entries were the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevy.