Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing have had a wild start to the 2025 NASCAR season. Despite winning the pole for the Daytona 500, Briscoe and his team had the result stripped after officials ruled the spoiler on his No. 19 Toyota was an L2 violation.
The penalty cost Briscoe 100 driver points and 10 playoff points. His team was fined $100,000 and lost 100 owner points and 10 playoff points. Crew chief James Small was also suspended for four races.
However, two weeks later, NASCAR overturned the decision, and Briscoe couldn’t be happier.
Chase Briscoe Elated to Be Back in the Championship Hunt
On Wednesday, Briscoe and JGR won their appeal when the National Motorsports Appeals Panel ruled that his No. 19 Toyota did not have an illegally modified spoiler at the 2025 Daytona 500. Excited about the ruling, Briscoe posted on X, calling it the “biggest points day of my career” and adding, “We’re back!”
He thanked NASCAR for allowing his team to present evidence and gave a shoutout to JGR for putting in the work to prove their case.
Biggest points day of my career! We’re back! In all seriousness thank you to @NASCAR for giving us the option to show our evidence and huge thank you to everyone at @JoeGibbsRacing who put in countless hours to put everything together. https://t.co/En1viYh3OJ
— Chase Briscoe (@chasebriscoe) March 5, 2025
The panel found that the hole elongation resulted from the process of attaching the spoiler to the rear deck, meaning it was not an illegal modification of a single-source part. Because of this, it did not qualify as an L2 violation. The panel included former motorsports marketing executive Dixon Johnston, former Speed Channel President Hunter Nickell, and former South Boston Speedway general manager Cathy Rice.
“We appreciate the process NASCAR has in place that allowed us the opportunity to present our explanation of what led to the penalty issued to our No. 19 team,” team owner Joe Gibbs said in a statement. “We are thankful for the consideration and ruling by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel. It is obviously great news for our 19 team and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. We look forward to focusing on the remainder of our season starting this weekend in Phoenix.”
With the penalty overturned, Briscoe gets back his 100 driver points and 10 playoff points, boosting him in the standings. He is now ranked 15th, just behind Carson Hocevar, heading into Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway.
