Chase Elliott's No. 24 team was penalized on Tuesday after NASCAR found an unapproved "modification of components to affect the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle" from last week's playoff opener, which could have in fact made Elliott's Chevrolet faster. Elliott finished the race second behind Martin Truex Jr..

Strangely enough, a NASCAR Reddit thread suggested that tape had illegally been applied to Elliott's spoiler through a screenshot of the car as well as a video from the post-race pit that included a member of the No. 24 team rubbing his hand on the back of the car. Adding the tape of course could very well have increased the downforce, giving Elliott a competitive advantage.

Take a look:

Playoff contender and 2012 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, who is known to share his thoughts on Twitter, commented on the situation.

Elliott had originally moved up to sixth in the NASCAR playoff standings after the second-place finish in the opener but has since been bumped to eighth after the 15-point penalty. He currently has 2,044 points, which is 18 more than Kurt Busch, who is below the cutoff line. Before the penalty he had 2,059 points which meant a sizable 33-point lead over Busch. The top 12 drivers after Dover will advance to the next round.

In addition to the points reduction, Elliott's finish becomes "encumbered" and the No. 24 crew chief, Alan Gustafson, was suspended for one race in addition to being fined $15,000. Joshua Kirk, car chief, was also suspended for a race.