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Five NASCAR Cup team members ejected after multiple inspection failures at Bristol
TL;DR
NASCAR has ejected five team members, including four car chiefs and one engineer, after multiple inspection failures at Bristol Motor Speedway. Five cars, including those driven by Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson, failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting in penalties including loss of pit stall selection.
Motorsport photo
NASCAR has ejected four car chiefs and one engineer after NASCAR Cup Series inspection at Bristol Motor Speedway. Five cars failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting in the loss of a key team member for the remainder of the weekend, and the loss of pit stall selection no matter where they qualify on the grid. They will be given whatever five stalls are left after the rest of the field chooses.
The cars that failed twice on Saturday were the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of Ross Chastain, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet of Cole Custer, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford of Chad Finchum, and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of Michael McDowell -- four Chevrolets and one Ford.
While the car chief was ejected for Larson, Chastain, Custer, and Finchum, a Spire engineer was ejected from the Spire group.
All cars passed on the third attempt, so they will still be permitted to qualify and won't have to serve any in-race penalties.
Inspection failures like this are not uncommon, and it's now happened several times early in the 2026 season. At Darlingon, three teams had issues (Elliott, Buescher, THill), four at Las Vegas (Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, TDillon), and two at Atlanta (ADillon, McLeod).
The No. 66 open entry is the only team to encounter issues in pre-race inspection in more than one race so far this year.
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Q&A
What were the consequences of the inspection failures for the NASCAR teams at Bristol?
The teams faced ejections of key members and lost their pit stall selection for the race weekend.
Which NASCAR teams had cars that failed inspection at Bristol Motor Speedway?
The teams included Trackhouse Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Haas Factory Team, Garage 66, and Spire Motorsports.
Who were the drivers affected by the NASCAR inspection failures at Bristol?
The affected drivers were Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Cole Custer, Chad Finchum, and Michael McDowell.
