By: Ashley McCubbin

It is common to sometimes see drivers fail pre-race technical inspection a couple times, resulting them starting from the tail of the field. It’s uncommon that it occurs five times before an event, and that was the case at Martinsville Speedway for Joey Gase.

Following the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500, the No. 51 was issued an L1 penalty from NASCAR under Section 12.5.2.7.1.d of the rulebook, which states “race equipment does not meet the applicable specifications during pre-race inspection.”

Gase’s car failed to pass through the five attempts, resulting in him also starting at the rear and serve a drive-through penalty after the initial green flag. Additionally, NASCAR has fined crew chief Lee Leslie $25,000 with a loss of 10 owners. It marks the first penalty of this kind for a five pre-race inspection failures handed out in 2020.

NASCAR also fined the crew chiefs of Chase Elliott (Alan Gustafson) and Kyle Busch (Adam Stevens) an amount of $10,000 due to having a lug nut loose post-race.

EMAIL ASHLEY AT ashley.mccubbin@popularspeed.com

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