Inspection process reveals few offenders

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR Winston Cup inspection for the Daytona 500 might have gone better than some people expected, but it was an arduous process on Friday and Saturday at Daytona International Speedway nevertheless.

Fifty of the 51 entries for the "Great American Race" had received their inspection stickers by the start of the first practice at 9:15 a.m. ET Saturday.

Get in line  Ever wondered what the teams do while waiting to go through inspection? NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman followed Bobby Labonte's crew as they waited to go through inspection on Friday.

By the end of the afternoon's hour-and-50-minute session, only the No. 84 Chevrolet of owner/driver Norm Benning had yet to receive its sticker. During NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing in January, Benning's car was at the speedway but was never approved to get on the track.

Thus, 50 cars will make a run for the Bud Pole Award for the Daytona 500 on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. Benning will have to make an attempt in second round qualifying Monday.

NASCAR Winston Cup director John Darby said an intense education program by his staff of inspectors, who visited Winston Cup shops continuously beginning last November to acquaint teams with the new inspection procedures in place this season, contributed to the process.

Darby said the garage was closed Friday just after 10 p.m.

"It was pretty much a typical Daytona inspection -- hardly any different than in years past," Darby said. "We slowed the pace down a little bit to give the inspectors a little more time to interact with the teams -- to explain infractions or some small differences.

"We felt like we needed to because of the new system."

"We had about 15 minutes of wrap-up work this morning," Darby said of the 7 a.m. garage opening time. "We had just a couple short rechecks to do."

A minimal number of pieces -- nine -- were confiscated from five teams in the inspection process. Darby said virtually no bodywork needed to be done.

"That was our goal," Darby said. "A perfect weekend would be no parts on the inspection table, good racing and no penalties to write the following Monday."

"In achieving that goal I have to tip my hat to the 45 guys that were out there busting their butts all day yesterday," Darby said of his inspection crew. "Those were the same guys that spent all winter visiting the shops to get as far ahead as we could on the process."

Johnny Benson's No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac team had two body panels confiscated that were fashioned as an illegal undertray and two pieces from its dashboard that were not metal, as required.

Joe Nemechek's No. 25 UAW/Delphi Chevrolet team had two front suspension pieces that were illegal because "devices or procedures designed to hold the car lower than intended are not permitted."

Michael Waltrip's No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet team had an unapproved camera shell mounted on its car's roof.

Benning's team had a coil spring confiscated because it had too few coils.

David Green's No. 60 Haas Automation Chevrolet team had a plastic fuel container confiscated.