NASCAR confiscated the rear deck lid of Austin Dillon; Then, he took the pole anyway at Talladega Superspeedway

Crew chief Danny Stockman and driver Austin Dillon comment on the rear spoiler confiscation

On Friday, NASCAR confiscated the rear deck lid, spoiler included of the #3 machine of Austin Dillon.

The rules have changed for Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. Cars rolled into the track with a 9″ spoiler. That’s an inch higher than we’ve seen in the other races in 2019. It’s several inches larger than the spoiler from this same race last year.

In addition, NASCAR added a wicker to the spoiler between the first and second practice session.

One of the mechanics grabbed a template to check out the spoiler on the #3 machine. It did not fit. In between practice sessions, the team went to work to fix it to put it in compliance with the NASCAR rule book.

The team didn’t have a template for the spoiler at the race shop. When they got to the track, they realized they had work to do.

Ahead of inspection, the crew was attempting to make it comply with the rules. The team used bondo to make it comply.

But, NASCAR didn’t like that they were doing that. So, they confiscated it.

Danny Stockman comments on the rear spoiler confiscation

“We took the deck lid off and we’re over there sanding the deck lid to make sure the template is going to fit for today,” #3 crew chief Danny Stockman explained to Racer on Friday.

“We didn’t want any issues going through tech for qualifying this morning, so we were just fixing it because that was the first time we’d seen that template.

“We’re trying to be proactive. If we would have had the template at the shop, this would not have been an issue because the template would have fit. … We didn’t have that template.”

“Every single deck lid in this field is going to have some (bondo) because you have to fit the templates.”

“It’s just what it is. I just wish we could have had the template at the shop — this has turned into a humongous deal, but we didn’t have the template at the shop to make the damn thing fit. Then we get here and try to be proactive about making the thing fit, so today I have no issues going through there.

“Nothing had been sealed yet. It’s an open garage — they can do whatever they want at any time they said, and I understand that, but if you don’t have the template what are we supposed to do? We have to be proactive (in fixing it) so today it fits when it goes through.

“How could they give me a penalty for that?”

Austin Dillon on his rear spoiler

Talladega is where it all started for Richard Childress Racing. They’re now in their 50th anniversary season.

The rear spoiler sure didn’t take any speed out of the car. The team put a new one on after having the primary confiscated.

Austin Dillon took it out to qualify on Saturday afternoon. He put it on the pole position and he’s more than a tenth quicker than everyone else in the field.

Bob Pockrass: Were you concerned about it impacting your performance in qualifying? Are you concerned about penalties moving forward?

“I knew it wasn’t going to hurt our performance,” Austin Dillon stated after taking the pole position at Talladega.

“We were just fixing a problem. It turned out, we didn’t need to do that.”

“Stockman was spun out about it. But, speed wise, I knew it wasn’t going to hurt us.”

“Moving forward, I hope that NASCAR takes into effect, the entire story of it. Whatever is dealt our way, we’ll handle it.”

NASCAR took the part to the MENCS hauler. They announced that any penalties for an infraction would be announced after the race on Sunday.