Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Chris Buescher received some positive news on Wednesday when the National Motorsports Appeals Panel amended the L1-level penalty that was issued to his No. 17 team on May 15, following his eighth-place finish.
Buescher's car was one of two that were taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center for further inspection, where the violation was determined.
The initial penalty resulted in a loss of 60 points for the driver and his team, as well as a loss of five playoff points, a $75,000 fine to the team and a two-race suspension to crew chief Scott Graves, which has already been served.
Upon hearing the testimony on Wednesday, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel found the team was in violation of the front bumper cover, but not in violation of the exhaust cover panel. As a result, the 60-point penalty was reduced to 30 driver and owner points, but the rest of the penalty remains the same, per NASCAR.com.
"We appreciate the opportunity to present our case to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel today and are pleased that the Panel overturned one of the two assessed penalties," said RFK Racing in astatement after the appeal decision from Wednesday. "Our goal is to always comply fully with the letter of the NASCAR Rulebook, and our focus is now looking forward to competing for a win in Nashville this weekend."
How does the penalty reduction affect the playoff bubble?
When Buescher received the penalty after Kansas, he fell outside the playoff standings to 24th (-27). After falling 36 points behind following Charlotte and gaining half of his 60 points from the initial penalty back on Wednesday, Buescher moves up to 16th in the overall standings and 17th in the playoff standings, six points behind teammate Ryan Preece for the final playoff spot.
This has no affect on the top of the standings with Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron still holding a 29-point lead over teammate Kyle Larson. With only 13 of the 26 regular season races completed after Ross Chastain's Coca-Cola 600 win, there are going to be many changes between now and the regular-season finale at Darlington on Aug. 31.
The series enters the second half of its regular season grind with Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway (7 p.m. E.T., Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Following a disappointing 22nd-place finish at Charlotte, Buescher is back in the playoff picture and primed to take advantage of the points he got back on Wednesday.