Rudy Fugle, crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, was ejected from Daytona International Speedway for an inspection violation Friday.
NASCAR claims the team was observed making an unapproved adjustment to its race car’s splitter. The car passed all checkpoints on its second attempt and then the adjustment was made. According to NASCAR, “The struts were reinstalled and the car was put back on the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”
In addition to Fugle’s expulsion from the event, Byron will start at the back of the pack for the Coke Zero 400 (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET). Byron was due to start eighth. The team also lost their pit selection and must serve a stop and go penalty on pit road after taking the green flag.
Crew engineer Brandon McSwain will serve as interim crew chief Saturday night.
Saturday will be the Cup Series regular season finale, which will finalize the playoff field. Byron, Fugle and the team captured the regular season title last weekend at Richmond Raceway.
Byron will attempt to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2013 to sweep the season at Daytona. He won his second consecutive Daytona 500 in February.
Live Fast Motorsports was the only other team to have an inspection issue Friday. BJ McLeod’s No. 78 car twice failed inspection and the car’s boss, Lee Leslie, was kicked out of the event. The team also lost pit selection before Saturday night’s race.
