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The word of the weekend at Circuit of the Americas was “Track Limits”. NASCAR was very strict with drivers corner cutting through the esses, so, plenty of penalties were handed out for “Track Limits violations” over the weekend. These were the drivers that had the biggest price to pay.
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While the Cup Series race only had 4 track limit violations, Chase Elliott had by far the most controversial. In stage three, Elliott got loose through the esses and shortcut the course. NASCAR gave him a pass-through penalty despite ferocious arguing from Alan Gustafson and Elliott.
Elliott was flirting with the top-5 as the race wore on, but this penalty set him back far. He was eventually relegated to a 16th-place finish.
While not a threat for the win on Saturday, Brandon Jones was well on his way toward capturing an important stage win in stage two of the Xfinity race. Unfortunately, he was found to violate track limits on the last lap of the stage, and his stage win was taken away. Riley Herbst was given the stage win.
Jones was sent to the tail end of the field for the ensuing restart. He ended up finishing 16th. While it was not a major dent to his finishing position, taking away a stage win and 10 points along with it is a big hit for Jones.
Shane Van Gisbergen suffered a gutwrenching loss on Saturday in the Xfinity Series race, but, after the race, the knife was twisted even more. He was given a 30-second time penalty for shortcutting the esses. This relegated SVG from 2nd to 27th.
He clearly had this race wrapped up before a caution and an overtime restart, so, the entire finish left SVG with a sour taste in his mouth. The track limits penalty was the cherry on top, and it cost him 25 critical points.
Connor Zilisch had a roller coaster day at COTA in the Truck Series on Saturday. After locking the brakes up, which caused a flat tire on lap one, he ferociously charged through the field. He seemed to have what it took to run down the leaders, but, two-track limits penalties did him in.
While the track limits penalties were far from the only issue he faced, what if those penalties did not happen? Would he have been able to save his car for later in the race, allowing him to compete for the win? In the end, he finished 4th. A remarkable comeback, but, a race where fans were left to wonder, “What might have been?”
Matt Crafton was penalized twice for track limits on Saturday. One came on lap 19, and the other came at the end of the race. The latter resulted in a 30-second penalty, which put Crafton in 23rd to finish the race.
Crafton had his moment near the front of the field. He finished 10th in stage two, but, mistakes like this ultimately cost him. Without the penalties, does he end up with a solid top-10 day?
Track limits were tough at COTA on Sunday. These drivers had to pay a higher price.
