Dale Earnhardt Jr. loses crew chief to 1-race suspension for unsecured lug nuts

Crew chief Greg Ives will miss the Cup Series regular-season finale Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be without crew chief Greg Ives one race with NASCAR suspending Ives Wednesday after officials discovered two improperly fastened lug nuts on Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet following the Southern 500 Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.

Ives, who was also fined $20,000, will sit out the Monster Energy Cup Series regular-season finale Saturday night at Richmond Raceway. Hendrick Motorsports will not appeal the penalties and named Travis Mack, the car chief on the No. 88 team, interim crew chief.

Per NASCAR’s rules, two unsecured lug nuts out of a possible 20 automatically triggers a one-race suspension and $20,000 fine, while three or more unsecured lug nuts results in a three-race suspension, $65,000 fine and the loss of 35 driver and owner points.

Earnhardt is retiring at the end of the season and enters Richmond needing a win to qualify for the 16-driver Cup Series playoffs. He has one top-five and four top-10 finishes in 25 races this season, with a best result of fifth.

Earnhardt knew following the Southern 500 that Ives was likely to be suspended, as the No. 88 car failed post-race lug nut inspection that is conducted immediately when a race concludes. In part because of a loose right-rear wheel over the closing laps caused by the unfastened lug nuts, Earnhardt finished 22nd at Darlington.

“I had a really bad vibration that last run and there was a bunch of them loose on the right-rear,” Earnhardt said. “[The pit crew] must have just kind of had a screw-up.

“It wasn’t intentional, they wouldn’t leave two loose like that when they are not even tight up on the wheel. So something must have happened on the pit stop because those guys have been great all night.”