NASCAR issued written warnings to five teams this week for multiple inspection failures last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The cars of Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Eddie MacDonald were warned for failing prequalifying inspection twice. Ryan Blaney’s team was warned for failing prerace inspection twice.
The Sprint Cup Rule Book states in section 12.5.3.1.c that if the same team receives two warnings during two consecutive events – whether a points event or not – then the team faces a P1 penalty that could include one or more of the following: Deduction of practice time, deduction of qualifying time, last choice in selecting pits, delay in order of inspection and/or other penalties.
NASCAR has emphasized teams getting through inspection without needing too many attempts. Teams were warned in April about formalized penalties for failing to pass inspection.
There were four teams (Greg Biffle, Casey Mears, Brett Moffitt and Alex Kennedy) that received warnings after the previous race at Kentucky but avoided a warning in consecutive events.
NASCAR also announced that the No. 23, 62 and 98 teams have been docked 15 minutes of practice at Indianapolis for infractions.