NASCAR Explains Confiscated Glove, Parts From Atlanta Race

Team Penske driver Joey Logano and Stewart-Haas Racing were both levied penalties by NASCAR for confiscated items ahead of the race last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Logano had his unapproved left hand glove, featuring webbing between all five fingers, taken after he used them in his qualifying lap last weekend in Atlanta.

NASCAR Cup Series managing director Bad Moran showed one of the gloves before the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

“This is an SFI glove and an SFI piece of protective equipment cannot be modified in any way,” Moran said, per NASCAR-provided video. “It’s as delivered, that’s how SFI approves it. SFI does not approve any glove with any webbing, obviously for safety reasons. As you can see the entire glove is webbed.”

Moran explained the reason a glove with webbing would be used by a driver is to block more air from entering the race car from the window netting.

“The drivers do out their hand up against the opening, which we’ve never really had a rule against it,” Moran explained. “But, this obviously goes one step further and this becomes not only a competition problem, it becomes a safety violation because that glove is no longer SFI approved.”

Logano served his in-race penalty by giving up his second starting spot and dropping to the back of the field, along with having a pass-through on pit road after the green flag to start the Atlanta race. Luckily for Logano, there was a caution during his pass-through which allowed the No. 22 car to stay on the lead lap.

Logano battled his way through the field and finished 28th in the race. Additionally, the Ford driver was fined $10,000 for altering his safety equipment.

Along with Logano’s glove, NASCAR confiscated the roof rails off two Stewart-Haas Racing cars in Atlanta pending further inspection.

Moran explained why the parts were not legal and why Stewart-Haas was docked 35 points in each of the driver and team standings for the L1-level violation, with those penalties affecting Noah Gragson’s No. 10 team and Ryan Preece’s No. 41 group.

“If you look at these, you’ll see they have like a press mark, so that’s been pressed,” Moran said, per NASCAR-provided video. “That dent is not supposed to be there. These are supposed to be flat like that.”

He explained the dents were not made by over-tightening the bolts and they were pressed to sit differently on top of the car’s roof.

Gragson only finished 66 laps in the Atlanta due to a wreck, while Preece came in 16th earning 21 points in the race.

Logano will start on the pole in the Penzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas on Sunday while Gragson and Preece qualified 32nd and 36th respectively in the field of 37.