Matt Crafton’s Darlington penalty rescinded, top 5 restored

Matt Crafton can breathe a little easier as his fifth-place finish in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway has been restored. The run was previously taken away when his #88 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro failed post-race inspection.

After the race, the truck was ruled to be too low in the front, a violation of Section 14.17.3.2.1.2.A of the rulebook and resulting in a disqualification. ThorSport appealed to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel, which later announced announced:

“Upon hearing the testimony, the decisions of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel are:

That the Appellants did not violate the Rule(s) set forth in the Penalty Notice.That the Panel rescinds the original Penalty assessed by NASCAR.”

The panel was led by Dixon Johnston, Tom DeLoach, and Hunter Nickell. Johnston previously worked as a racing marketing executive while Nickell was the CEO of Raycom Sports. DeLoach was the co-owner of Truck team Red Horse Racing from 2004 to its closure in 2017.

With the penalty wiped, Crafton improves from thirteenth to tenth in points. Consequently, Matt DiBenedetto is bumped back from tenth to eleventh in the race finish.