What’s Happening
After the one-hour practice session Cup teams ran on Friday, NASCAR confiscated the hood louvers from all four Hendrick Chevrolets, along with the No. 31 Kaulig Car. NASCAR officials first noticed the difference on the Hendrick cars during the inspections before the practice session, but let the teams run them during practice before confiscating them.
After the qualifying session Justin Haley’s No. 31 Chevy also had its hood louvers confiscated form NASCAR. Any penalties that may be handed out by NASCAR will come later this week.
- NASCAR teams are running a new short track package this season to provide a better racing product
- Kyle Larson will start on pole | Byron in 3rd | Berry, subbing for Chase Elliot, in 17th | Bowman in 18th | Justin Haley will start 26th.
- Last season NASCAR penalized Brad Keselowski with 100 points, 10 playoff points, $100,000 fine and a 4-week suspension for crew chief for illegally modifying a spec part.
NASCAR officials confiscated the parts before they ran the actual race, this may be the difference in what penalties, if any are to be handed out to Hendrick or Kaulig.
The Daily Downforce will continue to update this story.
The Main Characters
After replacing the confiscated hood louvers, the Hendrick cars were still fast in the Pheonix desert as Kyle Larson grabs the pole for the United Rentals Work United 500.
Only the No. 31 car of Kaulig Racing had its hood louvers confiscated by NASCAR after the qualifying session. A.J. Allmendinger will take the green flag in 22nd and Justin Haley will start 26th.
In The Stands
Fan Robbie Clarke asks Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports if there is any kind of aero advantage the teams had found.
Calvin the Great expresses the motto of trying to find loopholes to beat the competition.
DavidfromMd thinks if any modifications have been made that they should be DQ’d.
On Your Screen
Check out what Eric Estepp had to say about the hood louvers confiscated from the Hendrick cars.
NASCAR taking these hood louvers before the drop of the green flag may be the difference between Hendrick Motorsports getting hammered with penalties or not. They have not been kind when it comes to body modifications on the Next Gen cars, but we will know later this week what the officials decide to do.
If they are penalized, this could be detrimental to the season for all four teams.