NASCAR suspended Craftsman Truck Series driver Conner Jones for one race Wednesday after an incident Saturday at the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sanctioning body also imposed an L1 level penalty on the No. 38 truck driven by Layne Riggs for improperly mounted ballast.
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On lap 76 of 134 at Homestead, Jones hit Matt Mills in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet from behind in his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford and Mills climbed the track and into the outside wall. NASCAR responded by giving Jones a two-lap penalty during the race, then following up with a one-race suspension for violating Sections 4.3.A; 4.4.B: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct in the rulebook. That means Jones will miss this week’s race at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Mills’ truck was engulfed in flames, and although Mills exited the vehicle under his own power, he was transported to Jackson South Medical Center where he remained for two nights under observation for smoke inhalation. Mills was released from the hospital Monday and Niece Motorsports revealed he is cleared to race this weekend at Martinsville.
As for the No. 38 truck, NASCAR officials deducted 10 driver points and 10 owner points from that Front Row Motorsports team and suspended crew chief Dylan Capello for one race for violating Section 14.3.4. A&B: Regulation ballast containers. Riggs, who finished 22nd at Homestead, remained in 11th place in the Truck standings after the penalty.
Separately, NASCAR fined three Xfinity Series crew chiefs $5,000 each for having an unsecured lug nut during post-race inspection for the Credit One NASCAR AMEX credit card 300 on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Those crew chiefs were Mardy Lindley of the No. 1 JR Motorsports for Sam Mayer, Charles Street of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing for race winner Austin Hill and Joe Williams of the No. 39 RSS Racing for Ryan Sieg.
Officials also fined Truck Series crew chief Charles Walter $2,500 when a lug nut was not found safe and secure on the Spire Motorsports No. 71 driven by Rajah Caruth.
