Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Series standings | Chase Grid | All you need to know for Talladega

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup elimination-style format is in its third year and the 2016 postseason marks the last time that Talladega Superspeedway will serve as a cutoff race for the Round of 12 as the playoff field drops to eight drivers. The Talladega and Kansas Chase races will flip-flop their spots on the schedule in 2017, making Kansas the Round of 12 cutoff race.

In previous years, “The Big One” has wreaked havoc on the postseason picture, leaving drivers who looked like near-locks to advance on the outside looking in as the championship battle continued. Bad luck at Talladega always seems to find at least one Chase driver.

In the past two years, the driver second in points (and the first driver not locked in by a win) entering Talladega has failed to advance. Both times that has been a Joe Gibbs Racing driver; Kyle Busch in 2014, Denny Hamlin in 2015. This year, Matt Kenseth, a JGR driver, enters Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in that same position. Will bad luck strike JGR three years in a row? NASCAR.com examines how the Chase eliminations played out at Talladega the past two years.

(*) on chart indicates that driver won a Round of 12 race to lock up a spot in the Round of 8.

Standings entering 2014 Talladega Chase race

Rank Driver Points
1. Joey Logano 3088*
2. Kyle Busch 3082
3. Kevin Harvick 3081*
4. Ryan Newman 3077
5. Carl Edwards 3076
6. Jeff Gordon 3074
7. Denny Hamlin 3073
8. Kasey Kahne 3057
9. Matt Kenseth 3056
10. Brad Keselowski 3038
11. Jimmie Johnson 3031
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3031

Standings after 2014 Talladega Chase race (pre-points bump)

Rank Driver Points Race finish
1. Joey Logano 3121* 11th
2. Kevin Harvick 3117* 9th
3. Ryan Newman 3117 5th
4. Denny Hamlin 3100 18th
5. Matt Kenseth 3099 2nd
6. Carl Edwards 3099 21st
7. Jeff Gordon 3093 26th
8. Brad Keselowski 3085* 1st
9. Kasey Kahne 3090 12th
10. Kyle Busch 3086 40th
11. Jimmie Johnson 3053 24th
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3045 31st

Keselowski needed a win to advance and got it, holding off a charging Kenseth and getting past Newman on the final lap. Without the victory, Keselowski would have come up five points short of advancing. A wreck just after the midpoint of the race saw Kyle Busch’s title hopes go by the wayside. Kenseth’s runner-up finish vaulted him into the eight drivers who advanced. A 12th-place finish ultimately left Kahne missing the cut by three points. Johnson and Dale Jr. combined to lead 115 of 194 laps but both got caught toward the back of the pack late. 

Standings entering 2015 Talladega Chase race

Rank Driver Points
1. Joey Logano 3095*
2. Denny Hamlin 3082
3. Kurt Busch 3077
4. Carl Edwards 3076
5. Kevin Harvick 3071
6. Brad Keselowski 3071
7. Jeff Gordon 3071
8. Martin Truex Jr. 3070
9. Kyle Busch 3064
10. Ryan Newman 3062
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3039
12. Matt Kenseth 3035

Standings After 2015 Talladega Chase race (pre-points bump)

Rank Driver Points Race Finish
1. Joey Logano 3142* 1st
2. Carl Edwards 3115 5th
3. Jeff Gordon 3113 3rd
4. Kurt Busch 3112 10th
5. Brad Keselowski 3111 4th
6. Martin Truex Jr. 3107 7th
7. Kevin Harvick 3101 15th
8. Kyle Busch 3098 11th
9. Ryan Newman 3095 12th
10. Denny Hamlin 3090 37th
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3083 2nd
12. Matt Kenseth 3054 26th

An issue with the roof hatch combined with his involvement in an end-of-race wreck knocked Hamlin out of the Chase. Dale Jr. led a race-high 61 laps but couldn’t edge past Logano before the caution came out to end the race. The end-of-race wreck came amidst engine woes for defending series champion Harvick and sparked questions that he intentionally caused a pileup on a restart; NASCAR found no wrongdoing on the No. 4 team’s part. The Chasers were a bit more aggressive in terms of positioning than in 2014. Truex had to overcome starting at the back of the field after his qualifying time was disallowed for dipping below the double-yellow line during his qualifying lap. 

Standings entering 2016 Talladega Chase race

Rank Driver Points
1. Jimmie Johnson 3082*
2. Matt Kenseth 3074
3. Kyle Busch 3072
4. Carl Edwards 3069
5. Kurt Busch 3062
6. Martin Truex Jr. 3058
7. Kevin Harvick 3048*
8. Joey Logano 3045
9. Austin Dillon 3045
10. Denny Hamlin 3039
11. Brad Keselowski 3038
12. Chase Elliott 3020

Posted on by Nascar

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Richard Childress went all in. He wagered everything — his yesterday, his today and his tomorrow.

He bet it on a late-season deal with a driver who was a maverick, and he bet it on nothing more than a sliver of a sponsorship.

And at the end of that 1981 season, less than a dozen races after the relationships began, the driver and the sponsor departed.

The story could have ended there. Driver gone, sponsor gone and Childress, who had tried to scratch out a living as a racer before going the ownership route, hopelessly broke and perhaps finished with NASCAR.

But it didn’t.

Two years later, both Dale Earnhardt and Wrangler reunited with Childress. The union produced a pair of championships and a slew of wins, and set Childress and Earnhardt on a path of success rarely seen in NASCAR.

“I borrowed everything I could on my home; I sold everything I had that I thought I could sell just to run Dale those 10 races,” Childress said Wednesday during a celebration at Wrangler’s headquarters here in Greensboro. “At the end of it, I was just in debt. I had borrowed money from some folks and everything just to run those 10 races.”

It’s fitting that the celebration of the region’s textile community, dubbed Jeansboro Day, took place this week, just as NASCAR’s premier series prepares to return to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. Because it was at Talladega in the summer of ’81 that all the pieces first came together that would unite Childress, Earnhardt and Wrangler.

“I had already talked to Dale at the track earlier that day,” Childress said, “and put our deal together.”

Later, at the long-gone Anniston Inn just east of the track, he met with Phil Holmer of Goodyear, Wrangler officials and Joe Whitlock, who handled Earnhardt’s public relations at the time.

Earnhardt had won the 1980 title while driving for team owner Rod Osterlund, but when the team was sold mid-season to J.D. Stacy in ’81, the driver wanted out. A deal to run the final 11 races of the season was struck, with Childress and Wrangler.

By year’s end, Earnhardt had managed six top-10 finishes, but the strong runs were offset by mechanical issues and parts breakage.

“We ran good, but I knew we didn’t have what it took to run him for a championship,” Childress said.


Dale Earnhardt talks with Richard Childress after the two reunited in 1984.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remembers that season, in particular his father’s second start with Childress.

“I remember the race at Bristol where you had the accident on pit road that second race that dad drove for you in 1981,” Earnhardt Jr. said Wednesday. “I was there. I know that because one of my most favorite photos of me and my father, they basically had these two tires stacked on top of each other and I’m standing in the wheel to get a better perspective to watch the race. I must have been 7 years old.

“But Dad is standing with me and we’re both watching the rest of the race; the car is in the background too damaged to continue. But my favorite photo of me and my father actually happened that day at Bristol.”

At the suggestion of Childress, Earnhardt left at the end of the year, taking the Wrangler funding with him to sign with veteran team owner Bud Moore.

Childress hired driver Ricky Rudd, and a late deal put Piedmont Airlines on the car and helped stabilize the organization. Wrangler officials, knowing his dire financial situation, had kicked in an extra $50,000 at year’s end to help Childress keep his operation upright.

“That really helped me going into the following year,” Childress said.

What would have he done without it?

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “I never look back. I just look ahead and that was one of those deals that helped me look ahead. I don’t know where we would have been without it.”

Before the ’84 season began, Childress said Wrangler officials wanted to reunite, with Earnhardt once again driving the No. 3 Chevrolet.

The Earnhardt/Moore union had produced just three wins over the course of two years. Childress was more than willing to agree.

“I’ll never forget Bud told me at Riverside, ‘Boy, that boy will break you,'” Childress recalled Moore telling him of Earnhardt.

Instead, the pair flourished.

A Legacy Continues

In 2010, Earnhardt brought the brand back to the race track for a one-off race, winning the XFINITY Series event that summer at Daytona International Speedway. The car, prepared by his own JR Motorsports group, sported the No. 3 and a paint scheme similar to his father’s.

He continues to serve as a spokesperson for the company, and says it is “amazing” that the relationship has endured for so long.

“My father first had Wrangler on the side of his car at the end of the 1980 season; he won the championship with Wrangler on the quarter panel of his car racing at Ontario in 1980 for the final race of the season,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“Then he went into 1981 with Wrangler as a full-time sponsor. And we’re still working together today.

“I’m very proud of that relationship, very proud that it spanned so many years. Typically, relationships just don’t last that long. So it says a lot about Wrangler and what they get out of the sport itself; their connection to race fans and the legacy of the Earnhardt family and Richard, everything that Richard and Dad did together.”

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brad Keselowski‘s winning Coke Zero 400 Ford was lightning fast.


The Team Penske driver led 115 of the 161 laps around Daytona International Speedway to win the July event at the famed superspeedway.

But he won’t be unloading that hot rod this weekend at Talladega.


“The car that we won Daytona with I saw it the other day,” Keselowski said Oct. 7 during a Team Penske luncheon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “It’s sitting in the back and completely torn down. The body and everything is still just like it finished at Daytona. I asked the guys, ‘Are we really gonna let that car sit? Are we not gonna run that at Talladega?’


“And they said, ‘No, we’ve got a car better than that for Talladega.'”

Given Keselowski’s current circumstances heading down to Alabama for the elimination race this Sunday (Hellmann’s 500, 2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), a fast car is a must. His 38th-place finish last week at Kansas Speedway put the No. 2 driver in a precarious position on the Chase Grid, as he sits 11th of 12 drivers and seven points behind the cut-off spot.

RELATED: Keselowski, Elliott lowest on Chase Grid

But if anyone can climb out of the hole holding the checkered flag, it’s Keselowski. The 32-year-old veteran has a field-high four wins at Talladega, including the spring race earlier this season.


For Keselowski, his past success paves the way for future conquest.


“There’s a self-fulfilling prophecy to plate racing to when you have confidence it transcends, not just through yourself, but to the cars you’re running around, other drivers that work with you more, but also to your team, to where your team puts extra emphasis on those race and the drivers year-round cut you a little more slack because they just think you’re going to pass them anyway,” Keselowski mused. “And that creates a snowballing effect of momentum at plate tracks. So when you can have consecutive quality runs at a plate race, it almost gets easier.


“It’s kind of hard to explain and funny to explain, but I would say the success we’ve had this year on the plate tracks has put my team in a spot to where they almost put more effort on those races and developing the car and developing strategy and so forth because they have confidence that we can perform well at those tracks. And that they’re not so much of a roll of a roulette wheel.”


Keselowski isn’t the only current driver with a flair for plate racing. Six-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is always considered a favorite heading down to the Deep South. But Earnhardt, who is out for the remainder of the season due to concussion-like symptoms, will be watching the Talladega chaos unfold from the sidelines — something that hasn’t happened there since Junior began racing in the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2000.


The absence of a veteran plate racer like Earnhardt Jr. is a big deal, Keselowski says.


“There’s no doubt about it that Dale Jr. at Talladega is one of the best,” Keselowski said. “Without kind of putting in how the field feels about Dale himself in the moment, just losing one of the best drivers at the track is going to change the race. When you add in those other components and elements, I think it reduces the likelihood that you’ll kinda see the field line up single-file against the wall.

“And that itself means that the race is more taxing and an opportunity for incidents goes up dramatically.”

Multi-car incidents, tagged the “Big One” at restrictor plate tracks, are definitely no-go zones for Keselowski, who likely needs a win to advance to the next round of the Chase.

There’s no room for mistakes, no room for wrecks — and likely no room for even just “safe” finishes.

“Even being good at Talladega, it still doesn’t feel good going there with no win,” Keselowski said. “But you know you have an opportunity, especially when you have a great team and all those things. It can be tough — I think it’s tougher on the guys that go there and don’t enjoy that style of racing already.

“But for me, I look forward to it.”

Posted on by Staff Report


Here are the hot topics, trending news and key story lines to get you ready for this weekend’s races at Talladega Superspeedway.


WEATHER

Can you say “Chamber of Commerce weather?” That’s what you’ll get at Talladega. It’ll be sunny all weekend, with a high of 70 on Friday and a high of 68 on Saturday, with the temperature nosing up to 77 degrees on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Beautiful outlook for a pair of elimination races.


KEY TIMES



Sprint Cup Series: The biggest change this weekend is Coors Light Qualifying. Rather than qualifying on Friday, the Sprint Cup Series will do so on Saturday afternoon after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. The single-car spectacle is set for 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The race is Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, also on NBCSN.


Camping World Truck Series: The Camping World Truck Series has a pair of Friday practices (beginning at 1 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET, both on FS1). The race is Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX with Keystone Light Pole Qualifying just before at 10:30 a.m. ET (FS1).

CATCH DRIVERS LIVE



We’ll stream every driver press conference in the Talladega media center at NASCAR.com/presspass. Among the notables Friday: Chase Elliott (12:30 p.m. ET), Joey Logano (12:45 p.m. ET) and Martin Truex Jr. (3:30 p.m. ET). Click here for a full schedule.


LAST TIME


Joey Logano swept the Round of 12 last year, beating Alabama’s favorite son Dale Earnhardt Jr. — and eliminating him from the Chase — in the process. The Team Penske driver led 20 laps to Earnhardt Jr.’s 61, and he held off Junior on an abbreviated green-white-checkered finish. Logano was first and Earnhardt Jr. second as the field’s only attempt at a GWC conclusion went green. A wreck just past the start/finish line brought out the caution, ending the race just as Logano and Earnhardt Jr. were racing for the lead. Logano was in the lead at the time and declared the winner. Eventually, NASCAR tweaked its green-white-checkered rule in the offseason, leading to the addition of the overtime line.


YOU SHOULD KNOW


• With Dale Jr. sidelined for the rest of the season, Brad Keselowski may hold the mantle as the best restrictor-plate racer in NASCAR. The driver of the No. 2 Ford has three top-five finishes in the past four Talladega races, including two wins — to bring his total ‘Dega wins to four. He also won at Daytona in July. And following a wreck at Kansas last week, Keselowski likely has to win to advance in the postseason.

• It’s not just Keselowski who is in win-or-else mode. Chase Elliott essentially is facing a “must-win” scenario to advance into the next round. The rookie is 25 points behind the cutoff line.

• Keep an eye on Joey Logano and Austin Dillon. They are tied for the final transfer spot, with Logano currently owning the tiebreaker thanks to his third-place finish at Kansas. Their stories are quite different. Logano won all three Round of 12 races last year, but his performances and speed slipped this year; Dillon is in his first postseason and one race away from making the Round of 8 after being seeded 15th out of 16 drivers at the start of the Chase.

• This is the first elimination race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, with two drivers getting knocked out of the postseason. Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek are both 15 points below the cutoff line and will need to make up some serious ground.

THE FAVORITE

 

Brad Keselowski. This one isn’t close. In addition to the aforementioned Talladega success, Keselowski won the Daytona race in the summer and has a brand-new car ready to roll in Alabama. Clutch? Yeah, he’s that, too, as his 2014 win here proved.

 

Others to consider: Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson.

THE SLEEPER

 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Discounting rookies, no active driver has a better average finish at Talladega than Ricky Stenhouse Jr. In six starts here, he has one finish in the top five, three in the top 10 and five in the top 20. His car won’t be the fastest, but it’ll be plenty good and he’ll be lurking late.

Others to consider: Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch.

STAFF PICKS

Brad Keselowski: 2

Chase Elliott: 2

Matt Kenseth: 1

Joey Logano: 1

Austin Dillon: 1

Posted on by Team Release

Statesville, N.C. — Eighteen-year-old NASCAR Next alumnus Gray Gaulding will take the next step in his career by making his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS). Gaulding will drive the No. 30 Feed the Children Chevrolet for The Motorsports Group (TMG) at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 30.


“It’s exciting bringing a new partner into the series and to be making my NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at a track like Martinsville (Speedway) where we’ve had a really good history in the past is honestly unfathomable,” Gaulding said. “I’m excited to partner with Feed the Children and use NASCAR as a platform to deliver our message and work to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry. A lot has happened in a short period of time but I’ve never been as excited to debut this beautiful Feed the Children car next week at Martinsville Speedway.”


“We are pleased to sponsor Gray Gaulding, the youngest NASCAR driver in the Martinsville field and one of the most promising and fierce competitors among the many legendary NASCAR drivers who have made NASCAR one of the most exciting sports in America,” said J.C. Watts, Jr., president and CEO of Feed the Children. “He’s not only bold in his approach, he’s also blazing new trails, and we at Feed the Children strive to do the same. Gray knows firsthand the value of family, especially the NASCAR family who has joined us in our work as we have brought disaster relief to those whose lives and livelihoods have been severely affected by Hurricane Matthew and all the subsequent flooding.”


“We’re grateful to be partnering with Feed the Children in their mission to provide hope and resources for those without life’s essentials,” said Stephen Lynn, chief executive officer for GGR Enterprises.


Along with their debut at Martinsville Speedway, Gaulding and the No. 30 Feed the Children team will also make starts at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13 and the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20. Help take action and donate to end hunger by texting FEED30 to 41444.

Posted on by Nascar

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not be competing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series as the 2016 season begins to wind down, but the series’ most popular driver still has plenty to keep him busy.

“Going to the races, doing all my (sponsor) appearances, doing everything I was doing before, just not driving,” Earnhardt said Wednesday during a stop at the corporate headquarters of Wrangler.


“Take the driving part out of it and everything else I’m still doing.”


Earnhardt was joined by team owner Richard Childress to help kick off the second annual “Jeansboro Day” celebration and reminisce about the long relationship Wranger has enjoyed with Childress and Earnhardt.

Earnhardt has been sidelined since midseason after suffering concussion-like symptoms following a pair of crashes. In his absence, drivers Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman have handled the driving duties in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.


MORE: See: Bowman in the No. 88 car


After missing two races in 2012, this marks the second time in his premier series career that Earnhardt has missed races due to a concussion or concussion-like symptoms. 

Although he won’t be back behind the wheel this season, Earnhardt told the crowd that he plans to be back in the car when the 2017 season gets underway at Daytona International Speedway.

“It’s coming along pretty good,” Earnhardt said when asked about his recovery. “We got dinged up, had a lot of wrecks this year, got dinged up pretty good. …

“(I’m) starting to feel real good, starting to be able to get out and do things, enjoy myself.

“I miss being in the car but we have every expectation of being in the car come February for the Daytona 500.”

The Sprint Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend for Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It is the final race of the Round of 12 in this year’s Chase, with only the top eight advancing to the next round.

Earnhardt, who has six career victories on the 2.66-mile track, said he plans to be at Talladega “all three days.”

But just watching. Not driving, yet.


Posted on by Nascar

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of interviews with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series spotters.

 

Eddie D’Hondt, Spotter for Chase Elliott, No. 24, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

 

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED SPOTTING?

“I was the GM at Evernham Motorsports when Bill Elliott was driving. I actually started spotting for Bill — I guess about 16 years ago. I had been managing teams up until that point. I just sort of fell into it. I used to drive Modifieds. It just worked. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

WHAT OTHER DUTIES DO YOU HAVE WITH THE TEAM?

“We have a team meeting on Tuesdays, the driver, the crew chief and all the engineers. I have two reports I’m responsible for putting together for that meeting. That takes up most of my Monday, it’s a lot of video work and some other technical work, but that’s the other part of my job.”

DO YOU SPOT IN OTHER SERIES?

“I spot in every series every weekend. I do 105 races a year; Rolex, Modifieds, Truck, XFINITY, Cup. In depends on the series as far as who I’m spotting for each weekend. I did all of Chase’s XFINITY races, Cole Custer‘s XFINITY races; I do Ryan Preece when I’m not doing the 88 XFINITY car. I do Cole’s Truck races. The Ferrari team in Rolex.”

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH CHASE?

“Just this year. For four or five years I was with Jeff (Gordon); three years with Kyle (Busch) before that.”

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST RACE AS A SPOTTER?

“It was with Bill. I guess the (2001) Daytona 500, the race that Dale (Earnhardt) passed away.”

WHAT’S THE MOST BIZARRE THING YOU’VE SEEN WHILE SPOTTING?

“Oh my gosh. I’ve lived up here all weekend for 16 years so I’ve seen a lot of stuff. There have been so many things. It’s a great vantage point. Every single weekend we get to see a lot of what no one else gets to see.”

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE AS A SPOTTER?

“Homestead with Jeff last year and (the win at) Martinsville. I’d have to say those two. Jeff was just special. He is a special guy. He got in the trenches with you, he became your friend. You wanted to fight with him. I was working with Kyle Busch when Alan Gustafson (Gordon’s crew chief at the time) came and got me, sat down and struck a deal and five years later, here I am.”

WHAT’S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF YOUR JOB?

“Probably the travel. I’ve been on this circuit since 1996, prior to that I raced on my own. Being away from your family is difficult. Both my boys are working in the garage, so if I want to see them I have to go find them in the garage somewhere. The rest of my family is always home, so that’s the hard part.”

WHAT CURRENT DRIVER WOULD MAKE A GOOD SPOTTER?

“That’s a good question. Maybe Carl Edwards. He likes to talk.”

WHICH TRACK IS YOUR FAVORITE?

“Bristol and Martinsville. Probably those two. I grew up on the short tracks. The thrill of the short track, anything can happen at any moment. The flow you get into in those races, I enjoy that.”

WHAT IS ONE THING ABOUT WHAT YOUR JOB ENTAILS THAT THE AVERAGE FAN MIGHT NOT KNOW?

“Today, it’s become way more intricate than what people realize. We’re providing information that we never did before. You have all engineers now on top of all these pit boxes, not guys that grew up short-track racing. These guys are all engineers now. So they talk to the drivers less and it’s fallen into our laps now to provide more and more information on things like rubber buildup, lanes that are working, braking, backing up corners. We’re talking more about driving than safety. Most of the guys up here, just go down the line, used to drive. They have some kind of wisdom about what it feels line so you’re able to talk about it. And the guys that didn’t drive have educated themselves. Those guys on the pit boxes, they’re looking at data.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR officials handed down a P2 penalty to the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team for not having lug nuts properly installed during Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

The infraction also brought a fine of $10,000 to Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 88 Chevrolet. 

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team received a written warning and a loss of 15 minutes practice time for failing pre-race LIS three times.

The cars of Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-race LIS twice and received written warnings.

The cars of Austin Dillon and Regan Smith failed pre-race template inspection twice and received written warnings.

Cole Whitt‘s No. 55 Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying LIS twice and received a written warning.

The cars of Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-qualifying template inspection twice and received written warnings.

Other warnings issued after last weekend’s events at Kansas Speedway:

The XFINITY Series cars of Cole Custer and Brandon Brown failed pre-race LIS twice and received written warnings. 

Also, the cars of Brennan Poole and Derrike Cope failed pre-race template inspection three times and received written warnings.