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RELATED: Pearn suspended, team appeals

LAS VEGAS — Martin Truex Jr. faced the media for the first time on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since the suspension announcement of his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing crew chief Cole Pearn.

Pearn’s one-race suspension comes after a P3 rules violation from last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Pearn was also fined $50,000, while Truex Jr. was penalized 15 championship driver points and team owner Barney Visser was docked 15 championship owner points.

“I think from Cole’s side he’s a little frustrated about how it all went down, which is understandable,” Truex said. “People in the garage area talk and he feels like, ‘Do people really think I’m stupid enough after what happened at Daytona to try to pull something over on NASCAR in the same area?’

“Being that it’s a safety issue, it’s really a big deal to us to figure out exactly how it all happened. He’ll figure exactly how to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again and he’ll go through the appeal process and see what comes of it.”

Because the team is appealing the penalty, Pearn’s suspension and fine are temporarily deferred until the matter is heard. According to a NASCAR spokesperson, as of Friday, no date has been set for the appeal, but Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing‘s general manager, seems confident, regardless.

“I’m thinking it’s probably a couple of weeks (until the appeal) because next week we’re testing in Charlotte and then there’s an owner’s meeting, as well, so that’s going to be a busy week, but we’re prepared whenever they are,” Garone told NASCAR.com.

As for who we can expect to see as the No. 78 interim pit boss should Pearn’s punishment be upheld, “we have a plan,” Garone said.

Pearn was placed on probation through Dec. 31, 2016, following last month’s Daytona 500 for an infraction regarding the roof flap(s) on the No. 78 Toyota before qualifying. The team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time to allow Truex to make a qualifying attempt.

“In our case, this situation is kind of an odd one,” Truex said. “It’s not like we were trying to pull something over on somebody. This was a case where something happened that we don’t really understand. I’ll let the team go through the appeal process, but at the end of the day, we raced Atlanta without any issues. We had obviously a fast car and a very competitive day on the race track and I’m just looking forward to continuing that here today. So, I’ll let the team figure out that side of things and I’ll go out and do my job this weekend.”

While Truex does his job by piloting the No. 78 Toyota to the best of his ability, Garone explains how he’s kept the team focused on the task at hand during the last week.

“By not thinking about it a whole lot, and trying to take most of the load myself, and just keep it off of Cole and everybody else,” Garone said. “… In some ways, it’s spun up into a little bit bigger deal than it actually is, so we’re just trying to keep it what it really is and focus on racing.”

Truex finished seventh at Atlanta and second at Daytona despite the No. 78’s issues. The New Jersey native’s best finish at Las Vegas came last season when he finished second to 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Full starting lineup

LAS VEGAS — Carl Edwards will go to a backup No. 19 Toyota following an accident in the second round of knockout pole qualifying Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.



Edwards’ Toyota hit the Turn 2 wall about five minutes into the second session and his Joe Gibbs Racing team had already unloaded a back-up version of the Camry before Edwards finished doing media interviews about the situation.



Edwards said he was still unsure as to the exact cause of the accident but believed most likely the car’s right rear tire blew to cause the crash, which flattened the right side of the primary car.



“It’s frustrating because the car was really fast but they say the backup is just as fast,” Edwards said. “I guarantee that car will be as good as this one.”



Edwards had been fourth-fastest in the opening round of time trials and is a two-time Las Vegas winner. He was credited with the 24th starting position but will drop to the rear at the start of Sunday’s Kobalt 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).



Two of his JGR teammates — Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin — advanced to the 12-car final round of qualifying, in which Kurt Busch won and notched his second straight pole.

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LAS VEGAS — Looking fit and responding to questions with his typical humor, Tony Stewart addressed reporters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon, sharing that he still has no timetable on his return to racing but that he is feeling better each day.


Stewart joked that his doctors were not happy that he had traveled across the country from North Carolina to Las Vegas, which is hosting Sunday’s Kobalt 400 Sprint Cup Series race. But he promised “we did everything short of bubble-wrap me to get me on the plane” for the ride West. And he conceded, staying inside at his North Carolina home was simply becoming too frustrating and monotonous.


Stewart injured his back in a Jan. 31 all-terrain vehicle accident in Arizona and has had surgery to repair his L1 vertebrae. He said he returns to the doctor on Wednesday for X-rays to determine how the recovery is going. He is hopeful he can soon begin a more rigorous rehab program.


“I landed like a lawn dart and it’s hard to make that sound cool,” Stewart joked of the injury.


The three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion showed off a pair of the four new, humorous Mobil 1 commercials he recently made and then took questions from the media during a lunch break at the track.


“The hard part is I don’t know if being here is actually hurting me or helping me,” Stewart said. “The doctors don’t want me to be here but at the same time, it’s good for me and it’s good for our team. I want to be here to support them. … That’s a big deal for them to know I’m behind them 100 percent. I want to be at the track. That’s always where I want to be.


“I would rather be here and be in pain than be at home, be comfortable and no pain. The pain is worth it to me.”


Stewart, whose No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy will be driven by Brian Vickers this weekend, reiterated that he was not going to extend his final farewell season even though he is missing the front end of it as he recovers from his injury. He said he was hopeful NASCAR will allow him to remain eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs should he qualify — much as they allowed reigning Cup champion Kyle Busch last year.


And, he insisted, contrary to rumors, he did not plan on one final “Daytona 500 start” next year as so many have suggested.


“Not even 1 percent considering it,” Stewart said of the possibility he would run a “one-off” Cup event next year such as the Great American Race.


“I’m not going to change the plan because I got hurt. These are the cards that were dealt.”


He did allow that he was intrigued to do a one-off NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race here or there — particularly at Eldora Speedway, a half-mile dirt track Stewart owns in Ohio.


But, he stressed, recovering from this severe injury is about much more than returning to the cockpit of a race car.


“If this doesn’t heal right or we do something too soon that messes it up, it could affect me the rest of my life,” Stewart said. “We’re not rushing. The number one goal is to get it right the first time. We’re not going to push the issue, we’re going to make sure it’s right.”


But he reiterated often on Friday,  “As soon they tell me I can get back in a car, I’m going wide open.”


After the formal press conference Stewart made his way through the garage to see his team. As he walked, other team members, NASCAR officials and fans greeted him with handshakes, smiles, and shouts of encouragement.


“Looking good, Tony.”


“Good to see you back, Tony.” 


And no matter how badly his back may have been hurting then, Stewart was all smiles.


RELATED: Say ‘Bonjour’ to ‘Smoke’

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RELATED: See the full field | Starting lineup

 

Hometown favorite Kurt Busch roared to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Busch pushed the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet to a fast lap of 196.328 mph, snagging the first starting spot for Sunday’s Kobalt 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The pole position was Busch’s second of the season, second at the 1.5-mile Sin City track and 21st of his Sprint Cup career.

 

“Man, I wasn’t going to lift for anything,” Busch said. “I was giving it all I had. I’m really proud of the team to help me get to that third round. I was overdriving the car and I needed to settle in and (crew chief) Tony Gibson made a great adjustment in that last round. I was hoping to put on a show for the home crowd, get the pole, but now we’ve got to go to work tomorrow. I hope we can get the car dialed in for long run speed for Sunday.”

Joey Logano qualified for the second starting spot with a best lap of 195.851 mph in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford. Matt Kenseth qualified third in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Brad Keselowski, Logano’s Penske teammate, secured the fourth starting spot with Austin Dillon completing the top five in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet.

Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, was sixth-fastest in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevy. Four-time Vegas winner Jimmie Johnson, who prevailed last week at Atlanta, landed the 11th starting spot in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet.

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, driving a backup Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 after a crash in Thursday testing, qualified ninth.

Carl Edwards failed to advance out of the second of three rounds of elimination-style qualifying after hitting the wall in Turn 2. His Joe Gibbs Racing crew unloaded a reserve car to prepare for Sunday’s 400-miler, the third premier-series race of the season.

“It hit hard, bounced up the race track and man, that was it,” Edwards said after emerging unhurt.


RELATED: Edwards to backup car after qualifying wreck


The crash was to Brian Vickers‘ detriment. The fill-in driver for the injured Tony Stewart in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevy had a fast lap scrubbed off when the red flag flew for Edwards’ incident early in the 10-minute segment. Stewart, back at the track for the second straight week as he recovers from a broken vertebra, was seen with crew chief Mike Bugarewicz arguing the team’s case to NASCAR officials on pit road.

The opening 20-minute qualifying session was also marked by a pair of incidents. Jamie McMurray tagged the outside wall at Turn 4’s exit with his Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet. And Keselowski’s crew was forced to change a tire on the Team Penske No. 2 Ford after a piece of stray metal caused a flat. The team was allowed to make the adjustment between rounds without penalty.

Busch, a Las Vegas native, also earned the designation of fastest qualifier with a best lap of 196.378 mph in the opening session, a shade better than his pole-winning lap. Busch’s speed eclipsed the former track record of 194.678 mph set by Jeff Gordon at the 1.5-mile venue last March.

Posted on by Staff Report

MORE: Practice 2 results

 

Kyle Busch led the final practice session ahead of Saturday’s XFINITY Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

 

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver topped the practice with a best speed of 181.348 mph. He placed sixth in the first session with a best speed of 180.481 mph.

Ty Dillon jumped up to grab second late with a fast lap of 180.892 mph in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

 

Busch’s JGR teammate, Erik Jones placed third on the leaderboard at 180.880 mph. Jones, who paced the first session, was trailed by another JGR entry in Daniel Suarez (180.771 mph). Dillon’s RCR teammate, Brandon Jones (180.644 mph), rounded out the top five.

 

Qualifying for Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 (4 p.m. ET, FS1) will kick off earlier in the day at 12:45 p.m. ET on FS2.

 

MORE: Practice 1 results

 

Wheeling his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 183.094 mph, Erik Jones soared to the top of the leaderboard in the final minutes of Friday’s opening practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Jones’ JGR teammate Daniel Suarez also made a late run that proved fruitful, his No. 19 Toyota ranking second at 182.896 mph on the speed charts.

Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan was third-fastest (182.106 mph) in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, while Gaughan’s RCR teammate Brandon Jones came up fourth (181.886 mph) in his No. 33 ride. 

Reigning race winner Austin Dillon, who led the majority of the session, rounded out the top five with a fast lap of 181.733 mph in his No. 2 RCR machine.

Five drivers are performing double-duty this weekend with the XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Besides Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch (sixth-fastest), Chase Elliott (eighth-fastest), Aric Almirola (10th-fastest) and Brad Keselowski (14th-fastest) will wheel entries in both events this weekend at the Nevada track.

Derrike Cope brought out the red flag late in the 85-minute session, as his No. 70 Chevrolet hit the wall off Turn 4 hard. Cope will likely defer to a back-up car.

The XFINITY Series is back on track at 6 p.m. ET for final practice (FS1).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full practice results


Brad Keselowski landed the fastest lap in opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.



Keselowski powered the Team Penske No. 2 Ford to a best speed of 195.327 mph on the 1.5-mile track. He was just nine thousandths of a second ahead of Penske teammate Joey Logano, who registered a 195.263 mph lap in the No. 22 Ford.



Hometown favorite Kurt Busch was third-fastest, pushing the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet to a 195.235 mph lap. Paul Menard was fourth-fastest and Brian Vickers — subbing for the injured Tony Stewart — fifth-fastest in preparation for Sunday’s Kobalt 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the third premier-series race of the season.



Defending race winner Kevin Harvick was seventh-fastest in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson, last week’s winner at Atlanta and a four-time victor in Vegas, posted the eighth-fastest lap in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet.



Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin clocked the 13th-fastest lap in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. He logged his speed in a reserve car after spinning and smacking the wall in his primary Toyota during Thursday’s test session.



The 85-minute session went caution-free, but had its share of close calls. Menard scraped the wall with his Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet on the exit of Turn 4. Kasey Kahne slid up out of the groove in Turns 1 and 2 with his Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevy, but avoided contact.

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NASCAR fans can get a little closer to the action this season, thanks to the XFINITY Virtual Reality Experience.

Having made its debut at Daytona, the XFINITY Virtual Reality Experience simulates an on-track experience for users.

“XFINITY created this virtual reality experience as another way to bring fans closer to NASCAR than anyone else,” said Matt Lederer, executive director of sports marketing at Comcast. “Since the beginning of our partnership with NASCAR, we have made it a priority to bring new and exciting features to the fans. The introduction of the NASCAR enhancements to the X1 Sports app for those at home, and the redesigned XFINITY Zone fan interactive area at track, complete with this virtual reality experience, lead the charge of fan-focused updates for 2016.”

Several XFINITY Series drivers, including Darrell Wallace Jr., Erik Jones and Brendan Gaughan, gave the experience a test-drive. Wallace was impressed.

“After trying out XFINITY‘s Virtual Reality Experience, I was blown away by how close you are to the action,” Wallace said. “As a driver who truly experiences that environment each weekend, it was kind of surreal for me, so I know that our fans are going to love it.

“XFINITY X1 is changing the way fans experience NASCAR, and I think this Virtual Reality Experience is a great extension of that.”

Users can visit the XFINITY Zone activation space at the track each weekend to try it for themselves, or watch the 360-degree video online.

Posted on by Nascar

There is a familiarity about some things, but Justin Marks freely admits that “it’s almost as if it was another life because it’s been so long.”

Marks, 34, returns to the NASCAR XFINITY Series for this weekend’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, climbing behind the wheel of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet. It will be his first start in the series on a 1.5-mile track since 2011.

 

“There’s a learning curve and there is a transition at play here,” Marks said. “But I’ve been to every track on the schedule. I’ve got 60 starts in ARCA, almost 40 in Trucks and a handful, 13 XFINITY, starts.


“I’ve been to Las Vegas, but it was in a truck in 2008. So it’s been eight years.”

Primarily known for his road-course ability, Marks got a refresher course on the ovals last weekend, finishing 22nd in the Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This weekend’s XFINITY race will be the first of what he says will be roughly one-half a season’s worth of starts in a ride he will share with Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson.

CGR also fields the No. 48 fulltime in the XFINITY Series for driver Brennan Poole.

 

Last season, Marks drove just three XFINITY races and one Truck race. Between 2012-15, he competed in eight races, total — two Sprint Cup, five XFINITY and one Truck.

“I think when that much time goes by, it’s almost in a way like starting over,” Marks said. “Maybe it all comes back a little bit quicker than if you were going there for the first time, but I have to approach these like I’ve never been there before because I’ve been out of the seat so long.

“Last week when I did the truck race at Atlanta, the biggest thing for me to sort of overcome, at least initially, was basically just to feel the load in the corners, the G-forces and the load on the tires. That’s a sensation that you just cannot replicate in any environment other than being in the race car. I can go into fancy simulators and I can go on iRacing and watch all the onboard footage. I can find every bump and know exactly where the line is, what will happen with the car (during the course) of a tire run. But the one thing you just can’t replicate is the seat-of-the-pants feel of feeling that load.

“The first couple of laps at Atlanta, it almost startled me. I had forgotten … just how much force you are putting through the tires and into the racetrack. That’s kind of where the learning curve is (for me), just feeling that again, ‘OK, this is what it feels like.’ “

Marks has two career Sprint Cup Series starts, both coming at Sonoma Raceway, with Tommy Baldwin Racing in 2013 and last season with Front Row Motorsports.

He has a pair of top-10 results in the XFINITY Series, finishing sixth at Mid-Ohio (’14) and seventh at Road America (’15).

Why the sudden move to an increased on-track schedule? In addition to the occasional road course efforts, Marks has numerous business endeavors outside the race car that have required his attention. With others in place to now help oversee those interests, the time was right to re-commit to his racing efforts.

“It’s been in play for me for a couple of years to come back on the ovals in some sort of significant way,” he said. “I’m not getting any younger.

“I had a race opportunity with a big sponsor, good funding with a good team in 2008 when I was in the Trucks with Germain Racing. Hindsight being what it is, I probably didn’t take full advantage of that situation. I didn’t do the study, I didn’t put the time in, I wasn’t as focused as I needed to be. I’ve had eight years to reflect on that missed opportunity. I have a much better perspective going into this.”

The right situation to return required an opening as well as the proper funding. Until this season, the two failed to materialize simultaneously. Meanwhile, younger drivers continued to flow into the sport, and positions were filled.

“If I was ever going to come back, it had to be in the right situation,” Marks said. “With the right team, sitting in (equipment) that’s capable of winning every time it hits the race track.

“I’ve got some great relationships within Chip Ganassi Racing and its partners. That’s kind of where I wanted to be, but for whatever reason there just wasn’t an opportunity. Last year they had one car, the year before it was in the Turner-Scott Motorsports stable and I didn’t have partner backing to do a significant program.”

For his ’16 effort, Marks will have funding from Katerra, a high tech construction group. “A great partner … willing to step up to the plate,” Marks said.

“I feel like I’m ready,” he said. “I’m at point where I can focus and dedicate myself.”

The Boyd Gaming 300 is scheduled for Saturday, March 5 at LVMS (4 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN).

Posted on by Nascar

Season 3 of the popular car culture show “AmeriCarna” began Thursday on Velocity TV (9 p.m. ET), and show host Ray Evernham couldn’t be more excited.

“We’ve got some really cool stuff coming this year … just some incredible, incredible stories,” Evernham told NASCAR.com.

Evernham has an excellent eye for “cool stuff” when it comes to the automobile. From popular vehicles that may have little or nothing to do with the world of racing to those that left their mark on the track, the stories behind the vehicles that turn up on “AmeriCarna” are told well, they’re informative and they’re entertaining.

It’s a labor of love for Evernham, the former championship-winning crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports and driver Jeff Gordon as well as a winning car owner in NASCAR’s premier series with Dodge.

“There are so many stories out there because cars have really documented the timeline of America and its history,” Evernham said. “Each culture is represented by different things that happened around the automotive market or industry for years. They’re connected by music and fashion and politics and all kinds of things.”

Tonight’s premiere details the 2014 disaster at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the efforts to rescue the cars and repair the museum.

A 30-foot deep sinkhole opened in the facility two years ago, and eight vehicles — six owned by the museum and two on loan from General Motors — were either damaged or completely destroyed.

“We’ve got the complete story of when the sinkhole opened up and swallowed up all these priceless Corvettes … and the story of how they restored it, how they fixed that building,” Evernham said. “We’ve got inside, never-seen-before footage from the folks at GM.”

Other shows this season will look everything from board tracks to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and a record-setting hot rod from the early ’50s.

“We’re doing a thing on board tracks which is incredible because there was a huge board track right here in Charlotte,” he said. “How in the 1930s they build these giant wooden tracks banked up to 45 degrees, a mile and a quarter in length and ran events there.

“They were kind of the daredevils of the ’30s and we actually went and got Travis Pastrana, who is a daredevil of today you might say, to talk with me about that show.

“We found one of Dan Gurney’s cars that was lost for 35-plus years and put it back on the track.

“We’ve got a vintage hot rod from California that went across Bonneville at 133 mph in 1951. It’s somewhat untouched and we’re rebuilding the motor and doing all those things to see if we can make it go 133 mph again just like they did.”

The series consists of 10 episodes, but Evernham says that only scratches the surface of the incredible tales he and his team uncover.

“We have people that bring us incredible car stories every day,” he said. “We want more than 10 episodes a year because we’ve got a lot more stories to tell.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Speeds from Thursday’s test sessions at Las Vegas

 

LAS VEGAS – About an hour into Thursday’s afternoon open test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 FedEx Toyota hit the wall coming out of Turn 2, causing the Joe Gibbs Racing team to pull out a back-up for the official race weekend beginning here tomorrow.

After surveying the side of his damaged car, Hamlin still was optimistic about his chances for the weekend, even though he’ll go to a new car for Friday’s opening day at the 1.5-mile speedway.

 

The newly-crowned Daytona 500 champion posted the second-fastest time of the morning session (192.843 mph) – four-time Vegas winner Jimmie Johnson was just a bit quicker (192.981 mph) in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Three-time Vegas winner and Hamlin’s teammate Matt Kenseth, and Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy teammates Brian Vickers (filling in for the injured Tony Stewart) and Danica Patrick rounded out the top five fastest in the morning session.

 

Aric Almirola’s Ford led the afternoon session (192.940 mph), followed by Austin Dillon’s Chevy (192.658 mph) and Ryan Blaney’s Ford (191.659 mph). Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five. Hamlin went back out in back-up No. 11 Toyota and turned 41 laps, posting the 10th best speed in that car.


“We made some changes and were trying some different stuff and I got a little bit loose there,’’ Hamlin said of the incident earlier in the afternoon. “I had been tight all day and we made one significant change there and I just couldn’t hold on.

“It still amazes me how much on-throttle time we’re carrying, but overall, still trying to learn this package.

“It sucks for the crew guys. We have a lot of things to try and we were pretty good all day. And that change really moved the needle, finally, but I only got one lap on it and then I wrecked.”

“It was obviously beyond my talent level,” he added, smiling.

Hamlin and other drivers also were asked about Wednesday’s penalties. Newly hired Senior Vice President for Competition Scott Miller – a former Michael Waltrip Racing executive – issued six penalties this week following the season’s second race in Atlanta.

Furniture Row Racing‘s crew chief Cole Pearn was suspended for one race in addition to the team losing 15 points and driver Martin Truex Jr. losing 15 points after being penalized for a roof flap violation. The team is appealing the pre-race inspection find, however.

Ten teams were either fined or issued warnings – a stern start to Miller’s tenure.

“I guess everybody realizes NASCAR is policing the sport tougher and closer, looking at things closer,” Hamlin’s JGR teammate Carl Edwards said Friday from Las Vegas. “And for a sport, that’s great. You want to know you’re competing against guys who are being held to the same rules you are. I think it’s good. And it’s good to get that out of the way early in the season. If they get everyone in that box early in the season then we all know we’re racing in a fair race all year.

“When I first came to NASCAR, people asked me, ‘What’s the greatest part about it?’ It’s fun, we get to go to all these race tracks, but the coolest part as a competitor is the sanctioning body governs the sport so hard you really know you’re racing somebody with a similar piece of equipment. And any racer around the country knows that’s not the way it is most of the time.”

Hamlin agreed.

“I like it, personally,” Hamlin said of the rigorous inspection and penalty assessment.

“I think there’s always been such a huge gray area, and the line says ‘OK, you’re allowed to go to here.’ But teams go a little more and nothing gets said. I think this is a good thing that they are setting the tone early, that these are the rules and we’re going to stick to those rules.”