NASCAR disallowed Clint Bowyer’s Daytona 500 qualifying time on Sunday after his car was found to be too low in the left front.
Daytona 500 2012: Clint Bowyer Car Fails Post-Qualifying Inspection
Bowyer’s team sent the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota through inspection after the driver posted the 22nd-fastest time of the session, but it flunked the height sticks officials use to make sure cars are within the rules.
After letting the car “settle,” the team tried again but had the same result. Bowyer will now have to start his Gatorade Duel – he’s in the second of the two 150-mile races on Thursday – in the rear of the field.
“Really very surprised,” MWR competition director Scott Miller said. “I don’t know if we got something stuck in the bleed hole in the shock, but the front just didn’t come back up. It’s all the same stuff we ran in practice, and it was coming back up.
“We’ll go over there and get to the bottom of it and see what happened.”
A NASCAR spokesman said there will not be any further penalties to the team, which is standard procedure in such situations.
Miller said the action was not intentional.
“It’s never good to be in this position right here, but as far as the (Gatorade) 150 goes, you’re going to be to the front and to the back of that thing,” he said.
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