NASCAR announced today that a penalty has been issued to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series No. 50 Ford team as a result of a rule violation last week at Martinsville Speedway.

Crew chief Matthew J. Puccia has been fined $2,500. The penalty resulted from the violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-Q (truck, truck parts, components and/or equipment that do not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20B-10.4G (Unapproved transmission gear ratio between 1.00:1 and 1.28:1 will not be permitted. Transmission contained unapproved third gear ratio of 1.15:1) of the 2006 NASCAR Rule Book. The infraction was discovered during opening day inspection on Oct. 19.