The expected penalty has come down for Ty Gibbs' No. 54 team, as two pit crew members will be at home for the next two races after the No. 54 lost its entire right-front wheel during Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway following a hard crash.
NBC's Steve Letarte wasn't wrong when he predicted a couple of crew guys were going to be on vacation for a couple of races.
NASCAR announced on its X page that it is penalizing the No. 54 team for a safety violation.
NEWS: NASCAR penalizes the No. 54 team for a safety violation after the loss of an improperly installed wheel during Sunday's race at @LVMotorSpeedway.
Two crew members have been suspended from the next two championship points events.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 17, 2023
"Two crew members have been suspended from the next two championship points events," the post stated.
As reported by Taylor Kornhoff from Frontstretch.com, the two suspended pit crew members are Braxton Brannon (jackman) and Jackson Gibbs (front tire changer).
Joe Gibbs Racing had swapped Christoper Bell and Ty Gibbs' pit crews before the playoffs started, since the rookie Gibbs didn't qualify for the 2023 playoffs. It appears the struggles Bell has had on pit road all season have carried over with the crew to Gibb's car.
As for Bell, the pit crew he got from Gibbs was among the fastest in the garage this season.
The way the wheel shot off Gibbs' car was a little scary at first because he had slammed the wall already before the wheel flew off. Luckily no one was hurt, but these issues continue to happen.
Joe Gibbs Racing isn't the only one that has had the problem, but they seem to be the one continuing to have some form of pit road issue every week.
Hopefully, Gibbs can rebound from the bad trend he has had during the playoffs, as he has really only been making the headlines because of an incident or a mistake on pit lane. It's certainly been a rough year for NASCAR's top rookie.
