Penske Racing qualified for the first race of the Chase after Joey Logano won the pole. This was hours after NASCAR put Logano's team on probation for allegedly cutting a deal with another organization. The deal was said to help Logano qualify for the championship field.
Logano swept a lap at 189.414 mph around Chicagoland Speedway last Friday. He bumped teammate and defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski. Last Saturday night, Logano made it for the Chase in Richmond while Keselowski did not qualify.
On Friday Morning, Penske Racing and Front Row Motorsports were summoned before NASCAR in a meeting to discuss an alleged deal. The deal was over a claim that David Gilliland gave Logano pivotal track position to make the Chase. The Penske team denied the allegations and said that the radio transmissions could not prove that they bargained with Front Row. However, NASCAR spent the day reviewing the incident.
NASCAR holds 17 out of 20 regularly attended single-day sport events in the world. NASCAR annually receives around USD3 billion purchase in licensed products from 75 million fans. Fortune 500 companies had been sponsoring NASCAR more than any other motor sport event. In October 2000, Turner Sports purchased digital rights to NASCAR's website that would run through 2016.
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