Watts Suspended Four Races

NASCAR announced Tuesday night that Jimmy Watts — gas man for the No. 47 car driven by Marcos Ambrose — has been suspended for four races for actions in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The suspension applies to races at Bristol, Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix. He and crew chief Frank Kerr were also placed on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. No fines were announced.

Watts was penalized under NASCAR’s catch-all rule, 12-1: “actions detrimental to stock car racing” and also rule 9-15-U: “crew members must not go on the race track for any reason while the cars are racing or while the cars are running under the yellow flag or the red flag, unless otherwise directed to do so by a NASCAR official”. Kerr was penalized for violating rule 12-1 and rule 9-4-A: “crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of the team”.

Watts initiated a lap 67 caution period in the middle of pit stops by attempting to retrieve a loose tire that had rolled into the quad-oval grassy area on the front stretch. The yellow flag put much of the field a lap down early in the race, dropping most drivers out of contention. (See this report filed by Nicole Manske for ESPN.)