Kyle Larson and Michael McDowell have received heavy penalties by NASCAR following pre-race inspection issues ahead of Sunday’s eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, creating significant setbacks for two drivers. FOX Sports’s Bob Pockrass announced the penalties on X, with McDowell receiving the harsher punishment after repeated failures while Larson also faced consequences for inspection violations.
Michael McDowell, the driver of the #71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, endured a difficult start to the weekend after failing pre-race inspection three times. As a result, officials imposed a series of penalties that will significantly impact him before the green flag even waves.
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McDowell was not permitted to participate in Saturday’s qualifying following the repeated failures. In addition, the team’s car chief Travis Young was ejected from the weekend.
The penalties did not stop there. He will also have to start from the rear of the field and serve a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions once the race begins, putting him at an immediate disadvantage against the rest of the drivers.
The 44-year-old driver enters the Chicagoland race 21st in the championship standings with 32 points below the Chase bubble.
Kyle Larson’s team was also penalized. His #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet car failed the inspection process on two occasions. The repeated violations resulted in the ejection of the team’s car chief, Jesse Saunders, for the remainder of the Chicagoland weekend and lost the pit stall selection.
Taking to X, Bob Pockrass shared the pre-race inspection updates:
“From prequalifying Cup tech at Chicagoland: McDowell car failed three times, wasn’t allowed to qualify, will drop to rear and pass-through after taking green, car chief ejected, lost pit stall selection. … Larson car failed twice, car chief ejected, lost pit selection.”
However, Larson qualified second after falling short by 0.001s to pole winner Denny Hamlin, who claimed his fifth pole of the season.
Kyle Larson is among the favorites to win at Chicagoland Speedway
NASCAR returned to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2021, and Kyle Larson has the third highest odds, per the odds table, at +600 odds to win this weekend, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Whereas McDowell has the 20th highest odds at +20000.
The #5 HMS star has been running consistently even though he hasn’t won this season so far. He recorded eight top-5s and 11 top-10 finishes with an average finish of 13.9 through the first 18 races this season. He currently stands fifth in the championship standings, 148 points behind leader Hamlin.
Watch Kyle Larson in action at Chicagoland’s 1.5-mile-long track on Sunday at 6 pm ET on TNT Sports and MRN.
Edited by Yash Soni