Suspension parts revealed at Talladega

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has displayed the controversial rear suspension components of Jesse Love’s car at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend after his disqualification from Rockingham where the driver finished first. This comes just two days after it was confirmed that Richard Childress Racing’s appeal against the penalty would be denied.

With all components open to be viewed by the public – and the teams – including the left-side truck arm, rear-end housing, U-Bolt saddle, and lowering block, it’s clear that NASCAR wants to send a message after the mostly negative response to the disqualification last weekend. 

Eric Peterson, the Xfinity series managing director once again confronted this, detailing further why the No. 2 Chevrolet failed to pass post-race scrutineering.

“What happens when you go into the corner and all this stuff is not tight is the load on the suspension moves left and the cornering load moves right with the body and will move the right rear of the body towards the wall and adds side force to the car which is where the performance advantage comes from,” Peterson explained, highlighting the aerodynamic advantage the car had during the Rockingham race. “It skews it out.” 

Love’s celebration of his first win at a non-drafting venue didn’t last long before the victory was stripped from him and inherited by Sammy Smith. On inspecting the car after the race, it was confirmed that it violated section 14.14.2.I-5.h of the rulebook, which states: “All mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle must be in complete contact with each other.”

RCR attempted to appeal the disqualification, but after reviewing the evidence, the three-member panel unanimously confirmed the appeal would be rejected. 

“The panel finds that it is more likely than not that there was a violation of 14.14.2 Rear Suspension, I-5.H. The panel was unable to determine whether the violation was intentional or unintentional. The panel finds that the mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle were not in contact with each other,” a statement read.

Jesse Love, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

RCR responded with their own statement: 

“RCR is disappointed in NASCAR’s decision today to uphold the disqualification of the No. 2 team. We will focus our efforts on moving forward and being competitive at Talladega this weekend.”

Despite this, Love is looking forward to the Talladega race weekend as he enters the campaign 123 points behind championship leader Justin Allgaier.