Should NASCAR change how it conducts post-race technical inspection?

Each week, SB Nation’s NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a future mailbag question, email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

Is it fair to say Kevin Harvick is having a season like Martin Truex Jr. had last year where he’s going to rack up so many playoff points he’s almost already lock to make the Final Four? I know it’s early but it’s hard to think this seeing how good he’s been.

--Darren

Four races into a season is far too early to make any declarative statements, even if there is every reason to place Kevin Harvick in a class above everyone else. That said, it is apt to compare what Martin Truex Jr. accomplished a year ago during the regular season to what Harvick is currently doing.

Harvick has already accumulated 11 playoff points (not including the seven he lost via penalty), a pace that has him well ahead to earn more than 38 playoff points Truex accrued during the 2017 regular season. Although a small sample size, Harvick is averaging 2.75 playoff points earned per race, while Truex averaged 1.46.

To put this in perspective, to match Truex’s total Harvick just needs to accrue 27 additional playoff points over the next 22 races. This is doable, even if he cannot continue the torrid performance he’s exhibited thus far. And as we saw with Truex last year, if Harvick can amass such a volume of playoff points he then is a near lock to be among the four drivers vying for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway where the only way he wouldn’t qualify is him completely collapsing in the semi-final round.

I heard Kevin Harvick talking about this and it got me wondering: Can you explain why it’s a big deal that NASCAR issues penalties midweek instead of right after the race? Is there a difference and does it really matter? Shouldn’t the goal be to make sure the winner’s car is legal and if that takes a couple extra days so be it?

--Nick

First and foremost, the goal is to ensure the playing field is level and whomever won a given race did so based on performance and not nefarious means where their team something technical inspection to provide an unfair advantage. This is the very reason why NASCAR every week take the first- and second-place cars back to its research and development center for a thorough teardown.

The complication is that the inspection process beyond what occurs at the track post-race takes time -- often too much time -- creating scenarios like what unfolded last week where the winner is heavily penalized three days after the race had concluded. Harvick’s contention, shared by several drivers, team owners and NASCAR executives, is penalties and the resulting controversy then transforms into the predominant storyline instead of what actually transpired on the track. And in no other sport is a result so regularly altered days after an event, further adding to the confusion is while Harvick still technically won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he lost a lot of the tangible benefits that go with being victorious.

Ideally NASCAR can find a way to closely inspect cars, but in a more condensed timeframe. What many within the industry would like to see is NASCAR shift the in-depth inspection that happens at its North Carolina research and development center to the track immediately after a race. Then all penalties would be known on the same day, eliminating the prolonged period of conjecture, debate and negative headlines that frequently happens now.

The exact way to craft a system that combines the immediacy of conducting a comprehensive at-track inspection with the thoroughness that comes with bringing cars back to the research and development center is unknown. What is undisputable is that this is absolutely the direction NASCAR needs to head.

The new Camaro was supposedly going to give a boost to the Chevy teams and make them more competitive with the Toyotas. But all we’ve seen so far is the Chevys look just OK, while the Toyotas are still just as fast and the Fords are improved a lot. So what gives? Early season growing pains or is the Camaro not all it’s cracked up to be?

--Sam

Although optimism abounded within the Chevrolet camp this offseason over what the Camaro body style offered compared to its predecessor, the SS, all involved understood it would be some time before that promise turned into reality.

The intricacies of switching to a new model, understanding what tweaks are needed and how to best utilize its capabilities, are something that isn’t going to be immediately known. Compounding matters is the three-race West Coast swing that prevents crew chiefs and engineers from spending significant periods of time in the shop implementing what they’ve learned through the early weeks of the season.

A more accurate gauge how Chevrolet stacks against Toyota and Ford is late spring. By the first weekend of June, Hendrick Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing and Richard Childress Racing will have had ample time with the Camaro to incorporate data collected at the bevy of intermediate tracks the Cup Series has visited -- five of the 13 races are on mile-and-a-half speedways -- and adjust as needed.

If by then, Chevrolet continues to lag behind Toyota and Ford it is fair to raise questions. Any conclusions made before that are premature.