NASCAR suspends three Rick Ware Racing crew members for four races for losing ballast at Watkins Glen

Cody Ware loses crew chief, car chief, and team engineer for major safety violation

NASCAR announced Tuesday afternoon that three members of the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team have been suspended for four races after their car lost a piece of ballast during practice at Watkins Glen International on Saturday. Driver Cody Ware will lose crew chief Billy Plourde, car chief Jamie Edwards, and team engineer Steven Gray through and including Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 17.

During Saturday's practice session, a piece of ballast fell out of Ware's car and onto the track, causing a brief red flag to allow safety crews to clear the debris from the track. A loss or separation of added ballast poses a violation of the NASCAR rulebook (safety penalty). Ware's team was subsequently parked and not permitted to post a qualifying lap, and they would finish two laps down in 34th the next day.

The ballast is made of tungsten and is used as a chassis weight in order for NASCAR to ensure that all cars on-track weigh the same, and it is also used by teams in order to set the balance of their cars. As tungsten is a very heavy metal, it poses a major safety hazard if a piece falls out of the car and onto the racetrack. The damage from hitting a piece of ballast can be catastrophic, as it was in 2015 when a piece of ballast went through the windshield of a driver's car and struck their helmet.

The penalty assessed to Rick Ware Racing is in line with past penalties for lost ballast, which are among the most severe that NASCAR assesses. In 2020, Denny Hamlin's car lost a piece of ballast during pace laps for the Coca-Cola 600, leading to a four-race suspension for Hamlin's crew chief, car chief, and engineer.

Cody Ware currently sits 32nd in the Cup Series points standings, with his best finish being a 17th place run in the Daytona 500 in February.