NASCAR announce MULTIPLE penalties ahead of COTA race

Two NASCAR Xfinity Series teams have been hit with penalties following last weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Austin Hill claimed his 11th career Xfinity Series victory in Atlanta, beating Justin Allgaier and Aric Almirola to the line to win the race.

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However, a couple of teams were caught up in a major controversy, including the Gene Haas-owned Xfinity Series factory team.

The Haas Factory Team No. 00 and Big Machine Racing No. 48 teams were penalized for safety infringements on their cars, with the decision being announced ahead of the Xfinity Series' trip to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

NASCAR announce financial punishments

Both teams have been fined $5000, after at least one lug nut on both cars were found not to have been properly installed, a safety violation noted in Section 8.8.10.4a in the NASCAR rule book.

Big Machine Racing's Nick Sanchez managed to claim his first top-five Xfinity Series finish at Atlanta in the No. 48 Chevrolet, and that race result is unaffected by these fines.

Meanwhile, Sheldon Creed, driver of the No. 00 Ford, finished down in 14th in the second race of the season.

COTA welcomes the series this weekend for the Focused Health 250 race, which takes place on Saturday March 1 at 2:30pm ET.

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin issues WARNING to Carson Hocevar after Atlanta controversy

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