NASCAR suspends crew chief Labbe for 3 races

Mar 26, 2015 - 1:27 AM Daytona Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - NASCAR placed Sprint Cup Series crew chief Slugger Labbe on suspension for three races and fined him $50,000 for a rules infraction discovered during last Friday's opening-day inspection at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Labbe, the crew chief for the No. 33 Circle Sport Racing team, has also been placed on probation until Dec. 31. Car owner Joe Falk was docked 25 points in the owners' championship standings. Brian Scott, a regular in the Xfinity Series, drove the No. 33 Chevrolet this past weekend at Fontana.

According to NASCAR, three infractions were found on the No. 33 during inspection. The car's three-quarter-inch diameter magnetic steel truck trailing arm mounting bolt was not installed horizontally. The truck trailing arm monoball sleeve did not meet the drawing specifications, and the truck trailing arm mounting bracket adapter was machined from aluminum solid.

NASCAR also handed down behavioral penalties to five crew members who worked on the No. 8 TriStar Motorsports Toyota, driven by Blake Koch, in the Xfinity Series. The penalties were for their actions during pre-race activities last Saturday at Auto Club Speedway -- failure to comply with a directive from track security.

Crew member Mark Armstrong was suspended until April 21, fined $1,500 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. The other crew members -- Tyler Bullard, Nathaniel House, Jeremy Howard and Ryan Mulder -- were placed on probation for the remainder of the year but did not get suspended or fined.