Daytona 500: NASCAR inspection issues

Teams have failed inspection ahead of today’s big NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway

For almost a full week NASCAR has been racing in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 2.5-mile track of Daytona International Speedway is set to drop the green flag on the Daytona 500.

View 2021 Daytona inspection issues below.

Ahead of the race, cars are required to roll through a multi-point inspection line. Series officials detail each car with optical scans and other tools to make sure all teams are within the rules before the green flag.

The inspection line opened at 8:30am on Sunday. That gives teams several hours to pass inspection and push their cars to the grid.

In superspeedway racing, every thousandths of an inch counts. The entire body has a 1/16 inch tolerance in the rulebook. That tolerance is where speed is made.

As teams push the boundaries to shape their bodies 1/16th at a time, sometimes they go over the limit. Most of the time, that’s unintentional.

Daytona 500 inspection failures

Failed first NASCAR Inspection pass: Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Cody Ware, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Anthony Alfredo failed inspection on the first pass through the line. There’s no penalty for failing on the first pass.

Failed second NASCAR Inspection pass: Bubba Wallace has failed inspection on the second pass through the line. Wallace was scheduled to start 6th in the race in the debut season for the 23XI Racing Toyota.

As of now, the No. 23 will drop to the back for the start and have a crew member ejected. The team is back in the garage and working on the left rear as they still need to pass inspection.

If any team fails a 3rd time, further penalties will be handed out.

Despite dropping to the rear, teams will keep their pit selection. Pit boxes were selected following the Duel events on Thursday.

Inspection is ongoing, this page will be updated in the event of more failures.

Update (1:50pm): Bubba Wallace’s car chief has been ejected from Daytona International Speedway. The team failed the rear toe measurement on the second attempt. Everyone else passed on their 2nd attempt.

Update (2pm): Bubba Wallace has passed on the 3rd attempt through the line.

Related: Daytona 500 starting lineup and tv schedule

Unapproved adjustments/Backup cars

Earlier in the week, a qualifying session and two qualifying races were used to set the starting grid. However, multiple teams had issues in those races that have since adjusted their Daytona 500 starting positions.

Erik Jones and the Richard Petty Motorsports team changed engines ahead of today’s race. If a team elects to change engines after one of their Duel races, they are forced to go to the tail of the Daytona 500 grid.

Martin Truex Jr and the Joe Gibbs Racing team changed a radiator/oil cooler after the Duel races. That parts change will send them to the back for the start of the Daytona 500.

Additionally, seven cars were involved in Duel crashes that have forced them to a backup machine. William Byron is one of those cars, Byron was initially scheduled to start from the front row.

Erik Jones (Engine change)
Martin Truex Jr (Oil Cooler)
William Byron (Backup car)
Brad Keselowski (Backup car)
Chase Briscoe (Backup car)
Kaz Grala (Backup car)
Anthony Alfredo (Backup car)
Cole Custer (Backup car)
Ross Chastain (Backup car)

Note: Alex Bowman suffered engine issues in his Duel race. However, the team changed an engine coil and thinks they have the problem solved. That’s an approved adjustment and Bowman will keep his Daytona 500 pole position.

Related: Three cars fail inspection ahead of Daytona 500 qualifying


NASCAR Inspection Penalties (Rules)

1 NASCAR Inspection failure: No penalty, the team gets to go to the back of the inspection line and try again.

2 NASCAR inspection failure: If a team fails twice, NASCAR will send that car to the rear of the field. Additionally, NASCAR has the option to eject a crew member of their choosing.

3 NASCAR inspection failures: They have to start at the rear. In addition, the car has to serve a pass through penalty. They’ll drive through the pit lane at the start of the race.

Bubba Wallace
crew member ejected
Links

Bubba Wallace | Daytona International Speedway | NASCAR

Categories

Tags