It hasn’t happened in a while, but I’m really not surprised that these two stories got mixed up.

Big George Helms had tickets for last weekend’s NASCAR race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but died before he got to use them. He still made it to the track, though.

On Wednesday, NASCAR said his Las Vegas victory was tainted and slammed [him] and his [] Racing team with its strictest penalty yet. [He] was docked 100 points — knocking him out of first place — and stripped him of the 10 bonus points he would have carried into the Chase for the championship.

At 6-foot-5 and 400 pounds, Helms wouldn’t have been able to fit into a race car. But after his death from a heart attack Dec. 28, loved ones decided to try to fulfill the 54-year-old’s dream of participating in a NASCAR race, and arranged for the former logger’s ashes to be driven around the track.

Rival competitors on Monday circulated a photo via e-mail of [him] doing a celebratory backflip off his car, and the cover is clearly not attached to the oil tank. It’s believed that by opening up the oil tank trunk, the air is able to circulate through the car and create as much as 10 percent more downforce.

Driver Mike Harmon taped Helms’ urn to the fire extinguisher of his Nationwide Series car during practice last Friday. He told ESPN he could hear someone squealing when he went through a couple of turns.

“I swear I did,” Harmon said. “I heard a noise I’ve never heard before. It happened just one time, through Turns 1 and 2.”

Earlier Wednesday, while he was awaiting word on his punishment, he said he wasn’t concerned with whatever NASCAR handed down because “it’s not going to change how I drive, so I’m not going to sweat it.”

That likely changed after NASCAR’s ruling, which is the toughest to date toward infractions on its Car of Tomorrow.

Mara Brodeur, a friend who accompanied the urn to Las Vegas, called Helms’ family afterward to describe how it went.

“It put tears in my eyes,” said Helms’ younger brother, Allen.

Because NASCAR does not typically strip teams of victories, the penalty did the closest thing to it.

And Helms will be at the track’s next race, in spirit anyway. His friends spread some of his ashes at the speedway before returning the rest to his mother.