Two NASCAR Teams Have Been Penalized Following Atlanta

The NASCAR season is only two weekends old, but fans have already seen their share of controversial moments on track. The Daytona 500 and last weekend's Cup Series race in Atlanta both ended with potential race-altering wrecks, but NASCAR only decided to throw a caution flag at Atlanta, essentially ending the race when it went yellow.

Some have disputed William Byron's victory in the 500 and Christopher Bell's win in Atlanta, but both drivers are in the Cup Series playoffs before March, which is the goal of every driver in the garage.

The Cup Series season will roll on with this weekend's race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, but there's a bit of housekeeping to be done in the Xfinity Series from last weekend in Atlanta.

Two Xfinity Series teams have been fined for safety rule violations stemming from last weekend's race. The Haas Factory Team No. 00 and Big Machine Racing No. 48 cars were each caught with improperly installed lugnuts after inspection.

The infraction comes with a $5,000 fine for each team. Nick Sanchez drove the No. 48 to a fifth-place finish, while Sheldon Creed finished in 14th with the No. 00.

Creed is currently second in the championship standings through two races, while Sanchez currently sits at 15th. Creed finished third at Daytona to open the season.

The Xfinity Series will be the undercard for the Cup race on Sunday in Austin, as the Xfinity drivers will hit the course at COTA on Saturday afternoon for the Focused Health 250. It's the first chance to see the best stock car drivers in the world tackle a true road course after back-to-back weekends at superspeedways to open thes season.