Officials say issue will be evaluated further at NASCAR’s R&D Center next week
MORE: Jones wins at Iowa | Inside post-race inspection
The race-winning truck of Erik Jones measured too low in the rear during post-race inspection following Friday nights American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway.
Officials said the issue would be evaluated further at the NASCAR Research and Development Center during the upcoming week.
Jones dominated the Camping World Truck Series event, leading 131 of 200 laps. It was his second career win.
Unlike the Sprint Cup Series, ride-height rules remain in place for entries in the Nationwide and Truck Series.
"It was close. It was off a little bit, but it was close," said Eric Phillips, crew chief for Jones’ Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota. "Not sure right now, but we’ll look at everything. Obviously it wasn’t anything intentional but we’ll look into it. It’s a rough race track and just not a situation we want to be in, but we’ll have to see what happens on the first of the week when we get home and look over it."
Team owner Kyle Busch measured too low in the front during post-race inspection at Kentucky Speedway in the No. 51’s last race, which marked Busch’s fifth win in five truck series starts this season. NASCAR determined that the violation was a P2 penalty, violating Section 20B-12.8.1 (truck failed to meet post-race height requirements) of the 2014 NASCAR rule book.
After the Kentucky event, Phillips was fined $5,000 and owner Busch was penalized with the loss of six championship truck owner points.
"The Kentucky deal is completely a different thing," Phillips said. "We were probably pushing tolerances there, but that’s our job to do, but here it wasn’t that, by no means. We’ll just have to figure it out Monday and see what happens."
After finishing second in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Busch addressed the infraction.
"We’re having the same issue that the 9 (Nationwide) car had earlier this year with being able to maintain heights," Busch said. "After the race, there’s a tolerance of a window of, I think, a quarter inch that you’re allowed in green."
Earlier this season, the No. 9 entry of driver Chase Elliott measured too low during post-race inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. NASCAR determined that the violation was a P2 penalty and placed Elliott’s crew chief, Greg Ives, on probation for the remainder of the year.
"And the Nationwide cars, I think that tolerance is a half-inch; they widened it, and guys are not having issues now because the tolerance is bigger," Busch said. "And our trucks seem to still be having that issue, just because the tolerance window wasn’t opened up as much as what Nationwide is.
"We’re trying to get it the best we can. It’s our front-end setup stuff. People know what we’re running. They know what we’re doing. It just a matter of trying to get it fine-tuned a little bit more where we can start higher, maybe maintain a little bit better height if they don’t change the rule."
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