NASCAR announced that Joey Logano will start at the back of the race Sunday due to a glove violation.
Logano gave up the second-place starting position, The Associated Press reported. He was also fined about $10,000 for violating the safety code under “Driver Responsibilities & Driver Protective Clothing/Equipment” that NASCAR has in place.
NASCAR claims that Logano’s glove was altered, according to NBC Sports. Evidence was found in an in-car camera during the qualifying on Saturday.
The gloves were reportedly altered so that he could place his hand outside the window “as an aerodynamic blocker during qualifying,” as an aerodynamic blocker during qualifying, the AP reported.
“As a driver, you work with the team and, hey, I’m going to take a portion of responsibility of that too, obviously. I should. I put the glove on,” Logano said, according to the AP. “I didn’t build the glove or make it on my own. I can’t sew. We had conversations about it.”
“What I’m proud about with this team is, yeah, that was a tough situation for us. It was hard to go through and embarrassing for sure, but the fact we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week, we showed that we have some speed in our race car and to be able to put it on the pole here, to me, is a statement type lap, so I’m proud of that,” Logano continued.
“We spotted something that was honestly concerning,” Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director said ahead of Saturday’s activity in Las Vegas, according to the AP. “As you can see, the entire glove is webbed. The reason for that is you can obviously block more air, the drivers do put their hand up against the (window) opening, which we’ve never really had a rule against. This obviously goes one step further, and that glove becomes not only a competition problem but it goes one step further because it becomes a safety violation.”