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NASCAR's Brad Moran issues warning to Trackhouse Racing for driving through grass at Gateway

ProfilePhotoby: Nick Geddes15 hours agoNickGeddesNews
Trackhouse
Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen drove through the grass multiple times on their way back to pit road after Sunday’s Round of 16 playoff race at Gateway. It was an odd move on the surface, though there could have been a deliberate reason for it.

Chastain and van Gisbergen, who finished 24th and 25th, respectively, might have been attempting to pick up some additional weight to help ensure their cars would clear post-race weights in inspection. It’s a common practice for drivers across all series to run through the grass in an effort to pick up grass, rocks or rubber, Corey LaJoie wrote on X.

“They post all the Playoff cars [in inspection],” LaJoie said. “Trying to pick up a couple pounds of grass, rocks, rubber to let your car chief feel a little better when you roll across the scale.”

NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran made it clear Tuesday that it won’t be tolerated moving forward. He said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the sanctioning body will speak to Trackhouse about their post-race conduct at Gateway.

“We’ll be having some discussions with Trackhouse management, as well as our crew chiefs. And we’ll be giving all the teams some information regarding that this week,” Moran said. “But, yeah, I know it certainly caught our radar, and we have rules that could put them, put the teams in a real bad spot when we see that. So, we’ll make it pretty clear to them moving forward, starting at Bristol, what that means.”

Trackhouse Racing hanging on in NASCAR Cup Series playoffs

Both cars passed post-race inspection at Gateway. This won’t be an issue in Saturday’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol, which has no infield grass.

Chastain and van Gisbergen both need good runs at Bristol to advance to the Round of 12. Chastain is 11th in the playoff standings, +19 above the cutline. Van Gisbergen has a bit more work to do, -15 below the cutline.