New policies regarding inspections kick in
Related: NASCAR tackles upswing in inspection failures
Four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will each be docked 15 minutes of practice time when cars hit the track this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, according to the sanctioning body.
The loss of track time is a result of infractions and/or delays that occurred last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.
The opening practice for this weekend’s GEICO 500 is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
The Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 team with driver Aric Almirola was late for qualifying inspection, resulting in the loss of practice time.
The Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick and the BK Racing No. 83 Toyota with driver Matt DiBenedetto were late for pre-race inspection.
The Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 7 Chevrolet with driver Alex Bowman failed qualifying inspection more than three times. In addition to the loss of 15 minutes of practice time, the team will also receive a written warning.
Also, the cars of Josh Wise (Phil Parsons Racing) and Joey Gase (Go FAS Racing) failed qualifying inspection twice. As a result, both teams will receive written warnings.
Sprint Cup teams were notified last week that beginning with the Richmond race weekend, failure to pass qualifying and pre-race inspection during two consecutive race weekends would result in written warnings; a third failure would result in a warning in addition to the loss of 15 minutes of practice time.
NASCAR officials have docked teams practice time in the past for being late in the inspection line and similar issues.