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HAMPTON, Ga. — Inspection issues put a crimp in qualifying for a number of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with nearly half the field not on the grid when the opening session got underway at 5:45 p.m. ET.
Only five teams were unable to clear inspection and make it to the grid. Many, however, arrived on pit road after the session already had begun.
Michael McDowell, Cole Whitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Derrike Cope and Cody Ware were the five drivers who failed to post an official lap when the 20-minute clock expired, ending the first of three qualifying rounds. Their position in the starting field was determined based on 2016 championship owner points.
“The teams asked for this,” Elton Sawyer, a former driver and now vice president, officiating and technical inspection for the sanctioning body, said. “In the offseason we worked with them, we told them what we were going to do, they’ve asked us to stay consistent and that’s exactly what we’ve done. At 5 o’clock today we had every car through the inspection process one time so we feel good about that.”
Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the season’s first race utilizing the 2017 lower downforce aero package and not surprisingly, Sawyer said the template inspection station was where most teams had issues.
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“I know they’re pushing it,” he said. “This is the first downforce race so we understand that. But again, the thing that’s really encouraging is the garage has asked us to stay consistent, stay the course and they’ll get it fixed so that’s what we’re going to do.
“We had everybody through at 5 o’clock. So if they had presented their car in compliance with the rule book, they would be out there now.”
Two teams among those making it out with just enough time to get on the track were the Team Penske No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano and the No. 14 Ford of Stewart-Haas Racing with driver Clint Bowyer.
Mike Bugarewicz, crew chief for Bowyer, said the team had template issues on its first go-around, “and that’s us trying to get everything we can as a team.”
“The next time was on us, our own fault, just an oversight,” he said. “We need to work on that as a team.”
Bowyer barely missed advancing out of the first round and will start 25th.
Bugarewicz said the rush to get through inspection and the driver not knowing when or if the car would make it to pit road resulted in a difficult set of circumstances.
“We were just trying to rush, get the driver in the car and then he doesn’t have a clear state of mind, so I think our … Ford was going to be a lot better,” he said. “I think if we had another shot at calming down and sitting there thinking about it for a minute, we’d have had a lot better second round.”
In spite of the rush to get to pit road, Logano advanced through the first two rounds and ended the day qualified in the No. 6 position.
Crew chief Todd Gordon chalked the delay up to new procedures and said, “It wasn’t that bad for us.”
“We missed a couple things in templates and needed to rub on them, and then when we came back, we missed wedge by just a little bit,” Gordon said. “It was fine, it’s just kind of what we’ve got and I’m good with them sticking to what they’re saying they’re going to do, and we all have to figure out how to work within it.”
The expectation is that the process will work itself out in the coming weeks, much as it did under similar circumstances two years ago when the initial low downforce package rolled out.
“I definitely think it will,” Gordon said. “Any time there’s a change, teams need to understand what it is and how to work with it. I don’t see it as an issue.
“It was a little exciting for us there as we rolled, but didn’t plan on having an issue to have to go around another time and we did.”
Sawyer said NASCAR officials did not consider delaying the start of qualifying to allow every team time to make it to the grid.
“I think in the past, I’ve been on the team side before and you’re going to try and get everything you can,” he said. “Again, I can’t emphasize this enough, they’ve asked for this, they’ve asked us to clean it up so it’s going to be a little painful but we’ll get there.”
Zack Albert contributed to this story.