Multiple playoff drivers have been penalized ahead of Phoenix Raceway
This weekend, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season comes to a close. The 1-mile track of Phoenix Raceway hosts the championship finale on Sunday.
View Phoenix Raceway inspection issues below.
This is a race weekend with practice and qualifying, unlike most races this year. Yesterday, cars touched the track for a brief round of practice.
Related: Phoenix practice results from November 5, 2021 (NASCAR Cup Series)
On Saturday afternoon, cars unloaded for qualifying. Ahead of being pushed to the grid to set a lap, all cars must pass pre-qualifying inspection.
Phoenix Inspection Failures
15 cars didn’t pass the inspection on their first attempt.
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr all failed on their first and second attempt through the line. Per the rules, each of those teams will lose a crew member via an ejection penalty.
Those cars must pass on their third attempt through the line or suffer further penalties.
Car chiefs have been ejected for all three playoff cars: Kyle Larson (Jesse Saunders). Denny Hamlin (Brandon Griffith), Martin Truex Jr (Blake Harris).
This story will be updated upon additional failures.
Update:
Larson, Hamlin and Truex all passed on their 3rd attempt through the line.
Qualifying Complete:
NASCAR qualifying results from Phoenix Raceway
NASCAR Inspection Rules (Pre-Qualifying)
The rules are different for races that feature a qualifying run:
1 Inspection failure: No penalty, the team gets to go to the back of the inspection line and try again.
2 inspection failure: If a team fails twice, a crew member is ejected.
3 inspection failures: A crew member is ejected. Additionally, they’re not allowed to qualify and must serve a pass-through at the start of the race.
4 inspection failures: All of the above plus an L1 penalty.
Typically, NASCAR crew members are ejected on a second failure. However, due to a lack of practice and/or qualifying in recent events, series officials have given less-strict ejections for failed pre-race inspections.
Related: NASCAR TV Schedule (Phoenix)
