Stewart-Haas Racing will see two of its four cars go to the back for Saturday night’s Digital Ally 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and five of the top eight from qualifying will have their times disallowed after failing pre-race/post-qualifying inspection for the enhanced weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Aric Almirola (No. 10 Ford) was slated to start second and Daniel Suarez (No. 41 Ford) was slated to start fourth, but both cars failed inspection on the first attempt and saw their times tossed out. They will line up behind every car that passes on the first go round.
Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), the most-recent Kansas winner, as well as Martin Truex Jr. (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), a two-time Kansas winner and last weekend’s victor at Dover, also failed inspection. Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet also did not pass the first time through. Elliott qualified fifth on Friday, Truex qualified sixth, while Larson was eighth-fastest in single-car qualifying.
Ty Dillon (No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet) also was among the drivers whose cars failed inspection. He was set to start 15th Saturday night. Two-time Kansas winner and reigning series champion Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford) also failed inspection. He was set to start 20th.
The cars of Elliott, Larson and Logano each failed a second time through inspection and that meant the each of those teams lost a crew member.
Others that failed inspection: Michael McDowell (No. 34 Front Row Motorsports)-set to start 23rd; Landon Cassill (No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet)-set to start 25th; Joey Gase (No. 46 MBM Motorsports Toyota)-set to start 38th; Timmy Hill (No. 66 MBM Motorsports Toyota)-set to start 39th.