NASCAR makes preliminary ruling on Chase Briscoe crew chief James Small suspension ahead of COTA

NASCAR handed down major penalties to the Chase Briscoe team following the Daytona 500, not the least of which was the suspension of crew chief James Small for four races.

Small has now obtained a temporary deferral of his suspension, according to a report from FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. He’ll now be allowed to assist at COTA this weekend.

Chase Briscoe’s appeal will be heard by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel on Wednesday, March 5.

The team is appealing the penalty from NASCAR, which was levied following modifications found on the team’s spoiler for the No. 19 car at the Daytona 500.

As a result of the penalty, Chase Briscoe and his team were docked 100 points, 10 playoff points and were subject to a $100,000 fine. Small was also suspended four races as the crew chief. He served the first of those races on Sunday at Atlanta.

Because of the penalties, Briscoe is already in a deep hole in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Briscoe sat on the pole and finished fourth in the season opener at Daytona, securing 33 points. He went into Atlanta with -67 points and after a P21 finish, is scored with -51 points.

Chase Briscoe addresses impact of penalty

As for his mindset for the remainder of the season, it’s simple; he wants to win. Briscoe needed a win last season to secure a playoff berth, and he’s treating this season the same way.

“I would say this year my approach is way different in general,” Briscoe said last week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We should be able to go to the racetrack and contend for wins on a lot more consistent basis. So, you know, my whole approach going into this year was trying to win multiple races and that doesn’t change. The points situation obviously is unfortunate. But I mean, we still just need to go win races at the end of the day.

“That’s what we’re here to do is try to win races and you know, potentially try to win a championship, too. To have a chance to win a championship you need to be winning races, anyway. So, yeah, it doesn’t change the approach at all. I don’t even think from a strategy standpoint or anything, it changes anything. You just go there and try to win the race, and you know, hopefully, our cars are good enough to do that.”