NASCAR suspends Chris Buescher pit crew members after losing wheel at Las Vegas

NASCAR has suspended two members of Chris Buescher‘s pit crew after the driver lost a wheel at this weekend’s Pennzoil 400.

The organization has sidelined Jakob Prall (front changer) and Nicholas Patterson (jack) for two races for the wheel coming off on the track in Las Vegas. That is the standard penalty for such an incident.

Chris Buescher finished last in the race after his front right tire slipped off and careened into the wall. Buescher’s car followed shortly after, doing considerable damage to the wall and forcing the red flag to come out as repair crews worked to fix it.

The tire got loose during Lap 32 on Sunday, relatively early in Stage 1.

Patterson and Prall will be suspended for the next two Cup Series events — through the March 17 race scheduled at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Three other teams were fined for having single lug nuts unsecured in post-race safety checks in Las Vegas.

The No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief Phillip Bell) and No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief Andrew Abbott) were each fined $5,000 from the Xfinity Series, while the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford (crew chief Joe Shear Jr.) was hit with a $2,500 fine in the Craftsman Truck Series.

But the penalties for Buescher’s mishap will hurt. The driver just hasn’t quite managed to get it going so far this year.

Buescher had a strong finish to last season, winning three races in a five-race span at one point.

So far this season he has dropped to No. 23, falling eight spots after his DNF over the weekend in Las Vegas. Chris Buescher is behind the leader by 68 points.

He has recorded one top 10 finish so far this year in three starts, while he also has one DNF. He has led three laps so far this year.