NASCAR officials sent the No. 5 team to the garage with a roof infraction
NASCAR Cup Series drivers are in Talladega, Alabama. The 2.66-mile of Talladega Superspeedway will see green flag on Sunday.
On Friday, teams rolled through NASCAR inspection. However, cars weren’t on track until the following day.
On Saturday morning, cars lined up for qualifying. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports car was in line to qualify on the pit lane.
NASCAR officials saw something they didn’t like. Kyle Larson’s car was then pulled out of line and told to go to the garage.
Larson was not allowed to turn a lap in qualifying.
In a report, NASCAR stated the reason noting the roof-rail section. They stated, “Due to unapproved adjustments to the roof rails, the No. 5 car will not be allowed to qualify.”
Larson has claimed the pole position in the last three races and was going for his fourth in a row. Instead, he’ll be starting Sunday’s race from last place.
Any further penalties could be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Talladega Starting Lineup: April 2024 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Update: Additional penalty issued
Hours before the start of today’s race, NASCAR has issued an additional penalty to the No. 5 car.
On top of starting from the rear of the field, Larson must now serve a pass-through penalty. He’ll serve that at the start of the race.
Jesse Saunders, car chief for the No. 5 team has been ejected.
“No further penalties will be assessed to the No. 5 car for the unapproved adjustments,” NASCAR stated.
Without a caution, Larson will lose the draft and likely go a lap down early in the race.
