Marcos Ambrose’s former crew chief Todd Parrott has fallen foul of NASCAR officials after being suspended over substance abuse allegations.
Parrott’s ban from competition is expected to last until he completes the NASCAR Road to Recovery treatment program.
He is currently the leader of the #43 for Aric Almirola in the Richard Petty Motorsports team and will be replaced immediately by Sammy Johns, the team’s president of operations and competition, at Talladega this weekend.
Parrott led Dale Jarrett to the Sprint Cup crown in 1999 and was crew chief to Ambrose when the Australian scored double Sprint Cup wins at Watkins Glen.
He worked with Richard Petty Motorsport incumbent Ambrose until the final 10 races of the 2012 season when he moved across to Almirola’s Ford.
“We have an expectation of all RPM employees to conduct themselves at the highest level of professionalism and within the competitive confines as set forth by NASCAR,” Johns said.
“We are very disappointed that one of our employees did not meet our expectations and we completely support NASCAR, their policies and final decisions when it comes to the substance abuse policy.”