Four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will lose a portion of their practice time at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend for failing to arrive in the inspection line in the allotted time at Richmond International Raceway.
According to NASCAR, the entries for drivers Alex Bowman (Tommy Baldwin Racing), J.J. Yeley (BK Racing) and Michael McDowell (Leavine Family Racing) were late getting to the inspection line prior to qualifying. As a result, each will lose 15 minutes in the opening practice, scheduled to get underway Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
The No. 23 entry of Jeb Burton (BKR) will miss the opening 30 minutes of practice after being late to both qualifying inspection and race inspection at Richmond. (UPDATE: NASCAR revealed on Friday that Burton will only serve a 15-minute practice hold for being late to qualifying inspection only.)
Arriving late in line for at-track inspection results in an automatic 15-minute deduction in practice time at the next scheduled series event.
Teams that fail to pass inspection in the specified number of attempts receive warnings, with the accumulation of four warnings resulting in the loss of pit box selection. According to NASCAR, no warnings were issued last weekend at RIR.
Two XFINITY Series teams will also serve 15-minute penalties at Chicagoland — the No. 66 with driver Benny Gordon (late to qualifying inspection) and the No. 17, to be driven this week by Ryan Ellis and fielded by Rick Ware Racing.
The No. 17 team, which did not enter last week’s race at RIR, was penalized for being late to the inspection line two weeks ago at Darlington Raceway.