NASCAR needs to switch to single lugnut

Too many possible errors with 5 lugnuts per wheel instead of one large one.

These lugnut penalties are getting ridiculous, the next-generation Cup cars need to switch to a single lugnut configuration like IndyCar.

NASCAR competition officials issued penalties Wednesday to four Monster Energy Series teams and one Xfinity Series operation for lug-nut violations during last weekend’s events at Darlington Raceway.

Four Cup Series teams received a $10,000 fine for their respective crew chiefs. The infractions affected these teams:

• The Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet driven by William Byron (crew chief Chad Knaus)

• The Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet driven by Kyle Larson (crew chief Chad Johnston)

• The Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman (crew chief Greg Ives)

• The Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Toyota driven by Matt DiBenedetto (crew chief Mike Wheeler)

The No. 19 Toyota driven by Brandon Jones in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series was found with the same violation. As a result, crew chief Jeff Meendering was fined $5,000.

A NASCAR spokesperson also announced that Joe Gibbs Racing did not file an appeal of penalties issued to the No. 18 Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin in Saturday’s Xfinity Series event. The car did not meet the height requirements in post-race inspection and was disqualified from an apparent victory, handing the win to Cole Custer. Finally, cheating to win in NASCAR is being stopped……after 50 years.