NASCAR announced Tuesday Jimmy Watts, the crew man who ran after the tire during Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500, has been suspended four Sprint Cup Series events for his actions.

The gas man for JTG-Daugherty Racing's No. 47 driven by Marcos Ambrose, Watts ran across pit road and halfway to the racing surface to retrieve a tire that rolled loose from the team's pit stall. Occurring during the first round of green flag pit stops, Watts risked his safety and the safety of others, recklessly put himself in harms way with cars screaming past at one of the circuit's fastest tracks and completely jumbled the running order when the caution was thrown.

Watts was found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 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). Watts has also been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.

Forced to sit out the next four races, Watts will not return to action until April 22.

Along with Watts' penalty, NASCAR also placed crew chief Frank Kerr on probation for the remainder of the year.  While Kerr did not tell his crew man to run out for the tire, as crew chief he is responsible for the actions of his team and is held accountable if any of them violate the rules, according to Sections 12-1 and 9-4-A of the NASCAR rulebook.