Kyle Busch was penalized with a black flag during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond for having illegal tape on his grille, and the timing of the penalty flag did not sit well with his team.
Busch was running sixth with under 30 laps to go when he received the black flag, forcing a trip to pit road to remove the tape.
FOX analyst Larry McReynolds said that Busch’s crew intended to put the tape on the brake duct but missed it by about four inches.
What bothered Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing team is that the No. 18 Toyota Camry was running with the tape on the grille for about 200 laps before officials brought out the black flag. Joe Gibbs said after the race that he felt there were numerous other opportunities for the issue to have been pointed out to them so they could correct it.
Busch’s crew chief Ben Beshore also expressed surprise over the penalty.
Ben Beshore said they figured the tape would fly off at some point and was a little surprised they got black-flagged. He met with NASCAR and said they indicated they wanted to review that they had put it on during a pit stop and it wasn’t debris.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 3, 2022
Despite the penalty, Busch still finished ninth in the race. The penalty may have cost the team 4-5 spots.
For the third consecutive race, JGR had all four of its drivers finish in the top 10, including winner Denny Hamlin.
