Several teams cut the timing close to get through qualifying inspection
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BROOKLYN, Mich. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s flashy new paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevrolet had already made an impression during Friday’s opening practice at Michigan International Speedway. But the effect wasn’t as flattering just before Coors Light Pole Qualifying at the 2-mile track as his Chevy sat backed up in a line trying to make it through inspection.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Earnhardt said after qualifying 14th for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). “I’m just the driver and I don’t even help ’em go through inspection, so I don’t even know how the process works.”
Teams’ struggles to get through the laser-inspection process produced another backlog Friday, particularly because of issues with the amount of skew in the rear-end alignment. Several teams cut the timing close, with Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports No. 88, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 of Kyle Busch and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 of last week’s winner Martin Truex Jr. among the final cars to make it through the line and present their entries on the qualifying grid.
The process has come under more scrutiny in the wake of longtime team owner Jack Roush’s remarks Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about inconsistencies in the laser inspection system. Several crew chiefs for teams who were forced to go through inspection multiple times echoed Roush’s comments with varying degrees of gusto.
“Don’t push the limits, I guess. That’s what they say,” said Greg Ives, Earnhardt’s crew chief. “The system sometimes has its flaws but it’s not all on the system itself. We understand that these are machines, that whether it’s the car or the LIS (laser inspection) system, they’re not going to be perfect. Things don’t always go your way. Things bend, things move that sometimes you don’t expect, either on the race car or the LIS system and a lot of cars go over those every day.
“It’s not a perfect vacuum system. There’s going to be things that are flawed. As far as the amount that we were off was very small, but NASCAR’s doing its job to make sure everyone is held to the same tolerance and that’s all I can ask.”
Cole Pearn, a first-time winner as a Sprint Cup crew chief last weekend at Pocono Raceway, said Truex’s No. 78 required an additional trip through the inspection line after its skew was off by approximately 20 thousandths of an inch. Truex eventually secured the ninth starting spot for Sunday’s 400-miler, but only after Pearn and his Furniture Row crew made the necessary adjustments.
“It’s terribly inaccurate,” Pearn said with a shrug. “It’s just a crapshoot when you go across. You’re trying to get every little bit and it’s the measurement and lack of repeatability of the machine. It’s just kind of tough … It’s what we’ve got to deal with.”
NASCAR officials declined comment Friday. Roush’s refrain to SiriusXM broached the possibility that the laser system — which debuted for the 2013 season — was potentially sensitive to atmospheric conditions. Other small differences in calibration could be attributed to the cars themselves, factoring in the wear and tear of turning high-speed laps in between inspections — which occur before first practice, before qualifying and before the race.
The delays boiled over in the series’ second race this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where 13 drivers missed Coors Light Pole Qualifying because of extra trips through the inspection process. Friday’s additional inspections in the Michigan garage didn’t approach that dire level, but still cut into the opening 20-minute round of knockout qualifying for a handful of teams.
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“Sometimes you roll up there and you get a number and you’re working with that number; the next time you roll up, you don’t change anything, it could be just a little tiny bit different,” said Adam Stevens, crew chief for Busch’s JGR No. 18 Toyota. “Everybody’s working in the margins. It’s nothing crazy or out of the ordinary from my view. We made an adjustment and the adjustment fixed it. It’s just another day at the track.”
Stevens said it was just the second time this season that his team had been through inspection multiple times. Even with Friday’s hiccup, he wasn’t among those casting aspersions at the laser system’s accuracy.
“It’s a mechanical device, and every mechanical device has a tolerance,” Stevens said. “Anything in the whole world that’s mechanical has a tolerance, so that’s all there is to it. I don’t think it’s a big problem. I feel like any given weekend you show up, it’s pretty repeatable. At least in my experience, it hasn’t been a major issue.”