Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports Docked Points After Failed Inspection

NASCAR Cup Series driver Aric Almirola was docked 35 points Wednesday for a failed inspection following the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, on Sunday.

Brant James of USA Today passed along details of the punishment. It also included a three-race suspension and $65,000 for crew chief Drew Blickensderfer while Richard Petty Motorsports also lost 35 owner points as a result of the situation.

RPM director of competition Philippe Lopez released a statement about the ruling.

"We accept NASCAR's decision and will continue to work to get the most out of our race cars every week while maintaining the NASCAR rulebook," he said, per USA Today. "We look forward to Kansas this weekend."

Almirola told Marty Snider of NBCSN the infraction was due to a thousandth of an inch difference between his car and the NASCAR tolerance level, according to Nate Ryan of NBC Sports. He noted the importance of competing "within the rules," but added the team is forced to push the envelope.

"As a driver and race team, we have to push the boundaries and have to push it right to the ragged edge because all our competition is," Almirola said.

"If we just built a car well within the measurements and tolerances, we'd run 30th every week. That's the reality of it. All the teams push every thousandth of an inch that they can get. You have to to keep up."

The 33-year-old driver originally received 33 points for his fourth-place finish in the GEICO 500. The penalty means the race at Talladega resulted in a net loss of two points.

It's an outcome that puts a damper on his recent uptick in performance. The No. 43 Ford hadn't finished better than 14th in any of the seven races between Daytona, where he came in fourth, and Richmond two weeks ago before earning back-to-back top-10 results.

The penalty drops Almirola from 17th in the standings to a tie for 21st with Daniel Suarez.