Kyle Larson’s car chief ejected after two inspection failures at Atlanta

In pre-qualifying inspection at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), most of the 40-car field made it through the process without issue. However, the same cannot be said for Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson.

Larson’s car failed inspection twice, finally passing on the third attempt. They narrowly avoided having to a serve a pass-through penalty, but the two inspection failures will still result in some penalties for the team.

First, Larson’s car chief Jesse Saunders has been ejected and will not be able to be present at the track for the remainder of the race weekend. They have also lose their pit stall selection, meaning they will get whatever stall is left after the rest of the field picks.

There were no other reported issues. However, qualifying was shortened to one round due to some weather that passed through the area and a lightning delay that pushed the session another 30 minutes from its scheduled start time. Larson will be the 36th driver out on track. Since the reconfiguration, Larson’s best qualifying effort at Atlanta is third. He timed in 17th for the race here earlier this year.

Hendrick Motorsports was also penalized following last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity race at Pocono after an issue was found with the No. 17 HMS Chevrolet driven by Chase Elliott. The part-time entry was fined $40,000, docked some points and the crew chief was suspended for three races.