Justin Haley, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Team DQed from 17th-Place Finish at COTA

It was an unfortunate ending to what was a good day on the track for Justin Haley and the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing NASCAR Cup Series team. Following Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, Haley and his team were disqualified after the car didn't meet post-race weights.

The official section of the NASCAR Rule Book, which was violated, was 14.11.2.

As a result, Haley, who finished 17th originally in the 68-lap event, will now be credited with a last-place finish. As a result, Haley will lose a total of 19 points due to his change of position in the official race results.

Haley, who ran in or near the top-10 throughout the majority of the event, settled for what he thought was a 17th-place finish after reducing his pace over the final few laps of the race to conserve fuel.

While Haley was disqualified, no other issues were detected in post-race inspection at COTA. As a result, NASCAR has officially declared William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team the official winners of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

This marks Byron's second win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, which makes him the first driver with multiple wins this season. Byron is now a 12-time race winner in his NASCAR Cup Series career, 10 of the wins have come since the implementation of the Next Gen car (2022).

While Ross Chastain's No. 1 Trackhouse Racing machine passed the rigors of seventh-place inspection after the race, the team's Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will head back to the NASCAR R&D Center, where it will endure the full post-race inspection, which is typically performed on the top-three finishers at the end of each race.

If there are any penalties that stem from the trip to the NASCAR R&D Center, those penalties will be announced next week.

Photo Credit: Nigel Kinrade, NKP, Courtesy of Ford Performance