By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor
Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Pearn have started the season off with a second place finish in the Daytona 500, but many were wondering how severe penalties would be for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team, after they failed pre-qualifying inspection, and were unable to make it back to the grid in time to take a qualifying lap because of a roof flap issue.
Wednesday afternoon, NASCAR released the post-race penalty report for Daytona, and the No. 78 team has received a P2 penalty. As a result, Pearn has been placed on NASCAR probation until the end of the 2016 season. Luckily for the team, no fines were handed out, and no points were deducted from the driver or car owner.
Four other NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams (Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 7 team, Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 team, Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 44 team and HScott Motorsports’ No. 46 team) received written warnings after failing pre-qualifying laser inspection twice.
Three NASCAR XFINITY Series teams also received written warnings after pre-qualifying Daytona inspection.
The No. 40 car (owned and driven by Derek White) had a rear lower coil spring mount that didn’t meet specifications. Meanwhile the No. 0 (driven by Eric McClure and owned by Johnny Davis) and No. 99 (driven by Chris Fontaine and owned by BJ McLeod) teams each received written warnings for jack screws that didn’t meet specifications.
The stiffest penalty coming out of Daytona was handed out to the ThorSport Racing No. 41 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team (driven by Ben Rhodes). The No. 41 team was docked 10 championship driver and owner points, and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt has been fined $2,500 after issues with their lower spring coil mounts were found in post-race inspection. Bellicourt will also be on probation through the end of the season.
Five other truck series teams received written warnings for violations found in opening-day inspection. Those teams were: The No. 05 (owned by Tony Townley and driven by John Wes Townley), No. 22 (owned by Tim Self and driven by Austin Wayne Self), No. 23 (owned by Maurice Gallagher Jr. and driven by Spencer Gallagher), No. 58 (owned by Carlos Lira and driven by Ryan Reed) and No. 59 (owned by Carlos Lira and driven by Korbin Forrister).
Image: NASCAR Media Group
