Preece and Logano disqualified due to spoiler issue at Talladega

Ryan Preece, who finished second, and Joey Logano, who finished fifth, have both been disqualified and stripped of their finishing positions at Talladega Superspeedway following post-race inspection for the NASCAR Cup Series.

The No. 2 Team Penske Ford passed inspection, so Austin Cindric’s win is now official. But as a result of the two disqualifications, Kyle Larson has been promoted to second, William Byron to third, Noah Gragson fourth, and Chase Elliott fifth. Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon now fill out the remainder of the top ten.

The issue and the impact

Logano will be credited with 39th place and and Preece 38th in the final running order. The two drivers combined to lead 30 laps during the race and were a constant presence near the front of the field. They have also been stripped of all their stage points from the day (five for Preece and nine for Logano), leaving the two Ford drivers with a single point each. Both issues involved the rear spoiler of the race cars. Reportedly, Preece’s No. 60 RFK Racing Ford had an additional carbon fiber shim on the rear spoiler (the maximum is two at superspeedways while Preece had three), which is not allowed. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford had an unsecured bolt on the rear spoiler.

The double disqualification drops Preece from 12th to 18th in the regular season standings (and out of the provisional playoff grid), while Logano fell from eighth to 11th in points.

No appeal from Penske

Both teams have the option to appeal, but Penske has already stated that they will not seek to appeal Logano’s DQ. RFK Racing has not yet stated whether they will appeal or not.

“One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalized the team as a result,” a statement from the Penske organization read. “This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification.” 

Additionally, the following cars are returning to the NASCAR R&D Center for engine dyno: The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Larson, the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet of Ty Dillon, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford of Josh Berry, and the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota of Bubba Wallace. Larson and Berry’s cars will also be completely torn down and inspected.