Michael McDowell will be without crew chief Travis Peterson at Kansas Speedway after NASCAR ejected the team leader for an inspection violation.
The No. 71 Spire Motorsports team was observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter after their second trip through inspection on Saturday. It came after the car had passed all of the stations. NASCAR said, “The struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”
NASCAR ejected Peterson as a penalty. Additionally, the team lost pit stall selection for Sunday’s race, and McDowell, regardless of where he qualifies, will have to start at the rear of the 37-car field. He must also serve a stop-and-go penalty at the start of the race.
McDowell was allowed to participate in practice and qualifying on Saturday.
This is the same penalty NASCAR issued to Kaulig Racing at Nashville Superspeedway for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter. The only difference was that NASCAR chose to eject Kaulig Racing’s car chief that weekend.