The race-winning car of #78-Martin Truex Jr. and the 12th-place car of #48-Jimmie Johnson failed postrace measurements. They were at the lowest levels so Truex will be able to use the win to advance to the second round of the Chase.(ESPN.com)(9-18-2016)
UPDATE: NASCAR announced that the cars’ rear-alignment measurement failures were at minimal levels, meaning that Truex will be able to use his victory Sunday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR reviews any extenuating circumstances and will announce any penalties this week, likely Wednesday. Johnson faces a potential 10-point penalty, which could drop him from eighth in the standings to a three-way tie for 12th with Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick. The Chase field of 16 gets cut to 12 after two more races, with the winners automatically advancing and the four worst drivers in points eliminated. Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus also faces a potential $15,000 fine. Truex could face a 15-point penalty, with crew chief Cole Pearn being fined $22,500 because this is their second such violation in two weeks, which increases the penalties by 50 percent.(ESPN.com)
AND: Kickin’ the Tires was in the garage when the Truex’s car went through post-race inspection and spoke with Pearn about the forthcoming penalty. ‘The right rear was way safe, we were conservative, you know, just trying not to cause any trouble but I don’t know, the left rear was the one showing in for whatever reason, showing too much,’ Pearn said. ‘Yeah, it’s a bummer. It’s like .01 (degrees) over – barely nothing but it’s still over. It’s sure stressful passing that thing right now, I know that. We got nailed in the left rear, I mean, the left rear is all crinkled in and it’s the one showing in but that doesn’t matter, that’s the rules. If it’s over it’s over. It’s a bummer, it will be a P2 or whatever, especially since we got one last week, so it’s not really a good deal.’ A NASCAR official was seen looking at and taking photos of Truex’s tires in the garage as the car was going through inspection and it was obvious one of them had worn so much that the cords were showing. Pearn said he believed that was caused by Truex getting hit by another car during the race, which may have played a factor in the car being out of spec.(Kickin The Tires)
AND: #16-Greg Biffle and #43-Aric Almirola’s cars were missing a single lug nut on each car. Almirola’s missing lug nut was because of a broken right front stud. Their crew chiefs face a potential fine of $10,000. Crew chiefs are only suspended now if there are more than 3 lug nuts missing.(9-19-2016)
UPDATE 2: Statement from Furniture Row Racing: ‘The right rear of our car was well within the tolerance margin, which showed that we were trying to be conservative. However, the left rear wheel alignment was off by approximately ten- thousandths of an inch, which in high probability was due to damage in that area as a result of being hit by the No. 4 car. We believe the laser inspection numbers were correct and accept NASCAR’s decision that was made following Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.’(Furniture Row Racing)
