NASCAR Cup Kansas II

Denny Hamlin NASCAR crew suspensions begin this week

Series officials also explain why one-week deferrals are permitted

Matt Weaver

Edited: Sep 23, 2025, 8:09 PM

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Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Following a one-week deferral, two Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 over-the-wall crew members will begin serving their two-week suspensions for having a wheel become dislodged during the race and on the track at Bristol Motor Speedway.

As per NASCAR regulations, when a wheel comes off on the track, the driver must serve a two-lap penalty during the race but will also be subject to losing two crew members that serviced the car for two weeks.

The suspended crew members are jack man ‘Joel B’ Bouagnon and front tire changer Austin Maloney. They will be replaced this weekend at Kansas Speedway by Nate McBride and Thomas Hatcher of the Front Row Motorsports No. 4 team, respectively.

That organization rents crew members from JGR.

Why was the team allowed to defer the penalties?

Denny Hamlin loses a wheel, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

As for the deferrals, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer detailed why they allow a one-week referral on Tuesday during a segment on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Driver with Pete Pistone and Mike Bagley.

"There's no points and there's no money attached to the loss of a wheel the 11 car had at Bristol," Sawyer said. "So back, two or three years ago, what would happen there, they would put in for an appeal so we would start that process on our side. We would be looking at panel members. They would be preparing all their information to bring into the board room to present their case. And then, once we got through the weekend, they would then pull the appeal request and we would go back to business as usual, and we would take the next week and let their crew members sit out."

In other words, teams generally didn't ever plan to appeal. They just wanted the week to get their affairs in order or to maximize a more important race from a crew standpoint.

"Just to simplify the process, we worked closely with the teams, we suggested 'what if we do this,' on Tuesday if you get a penalty and want to defer it a week, we can do that with behavioral penalties," Sawyer said. "When it comes down to points and money, that's not an option, so it just comes down to simplifying the process and working with the industry."

Team rosters have to be submitted and approved before the garage first opens at any given track.

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