JTG Daugherty teams hit with pre-race penalties at Fontana

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was slated to start 10th in the race and his teammate, Ryan Preece, was to start 20th. As a result of the penalty, both drivers will start the race from the rear of the field.

In addition, Stenhouse’s crew chief, Brian Pattie, and Preece’s crew chief, Trent Owens, were both ejected from the race.

Both teams will receive 10-point driver and owner point penalties.

According to NASCAR, the teams violated Section 20.20 of the Cup Series rulebook, “Parts, systems, devices, omissions or component failures cannot affect what should otherwise be the normal airflow over the body of the vehicle.”

The infractions were first noticed in pre-qualifying inspection on Saturday morning and confirmed following each team’s qualifying runs, NASCAR officials said.