NASCAR Officials Up Inspection Ante

After 13 Sprint Cup teams didn’t make it through inspection and onto the track before first round qualifying was over at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season, NASCAR began taking a more intensive look at how they manage the process. A new rules package has, in part, led to the woes. The changes caused an elevated rate of inspection failure. Thursday morning, NASCAR made their move. Teams received a memo from Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck about specific penalties for teams who do not pass inspection.

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Monitoring Inspections
Before any car can go on track for the first practice, the team must receive a final sticker signifying that they have passed the initial inspection. Between practice and qualifying, another inspection occurs. The third and final pre-race inspection occurs just before the race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup officials track inspection in real-time thanks to an app developed for the sanctioning body by Microsoft. Buck and other officials can use tablets to keep inspections on a strict schedule, check progress in individual stations and monitor infractions. When an infraction is found, the officials save digital photos and make notes directly in the app. These are then available to search, sort and otherwise be used to determine any trends among teams.

Penalties For Repeated Violations
According to the memo issued on Thursday, repeated inspection failures will now call for specific penalties. Beginning at Richmond, any car that fails twice within the same inspection period will receive a written warning. A third failure will result in a 15-minute practice penalty before the next week’s race.

The written warnings, too, are much more than just an official scolding. If a team receives multiple warnings during the course of a race weekend or repeats the same violation more than one week in a row, they can expect penalties. These sanctions may include anything from losing practice time or qualifying time to the back of the line for pit selection to community service. Crew chiefs or other responsible team members may also have their credentials temporarily revoked, which results in not being allowed to attend events during that time.

Infractions at Richmond
The first weekend of these changes saw Alex Bowman’s Tommy Baldwin Racing team failing pre-qualifying inspection repeatedly. They will miss 15 minutes of practice at Talladega next weekend. In addition, the No.98 Phil Parsons Racing car driven by Josh Wise and the No. 32 Go Green Racing machine driven by Joey Gase both failed inspection twice. These teams received written warnings. Seven Xfinity teams will miss practice time next week due to inspection failures.

While the number of penalties shows that the increased sanctions hasn’t fixed the inspection issues, it is yet to be seen whether these changes will ensure teams stay well within the rules and work a little harder to ensure their cars pass inspection on the first try.