After laying down a stellar fourth-place run in last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, there appears to be some trouble in paradise for AJ Allmendinger ahead of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The Kaulig Racing driver will be starting at the rear of the field for Sunday’s event, after NASCAR discovered that the No. 16 Kaulig Racing team had made unapproved adjustments to the splitter after going through inspection on Saturday.
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NCS Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville
Allmendinger will also have to serve a stop-and-go penalty after taking the green flag.
According to a late-night inspection update issued by NASCAR, the issues for the No. 16 came after initial inspections before practice and qualifying. Before the start of practice, the car was returned to the NASCAR Cup Series garage, where it underwent a re-run across the USS (underbody scanning station).
The repair adjustments were then made, and the No. 16 Leaf Filter Gutter Protection Chevrolet was then put back into tolerance before the start of practice and qualifying, where the team was held 10 minutes at the start of practice. Despite qualifying a respectable 17th, Kaulig Racing will lose the chance to select their pit stall.
Jaron Antley, the car chief of the entry, has been ejected for the remainder of the weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and has also had his hard card confiscated.
Last weekend, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Allmendinger had one of the best runs in the NASCAR Cup Series that he’s had with Kaulig Racing, finishing fourth and earning 49 points.
That fantastic performance launched the Los Gatos, California-native up eight spots in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings at the halfway point of the regular season, and only 13 points below the cutline for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
With these major, race-impacting penalties coming early in the race at Nashville Superspeedway, Allmendinger is going to need some kind of heroic effort, or an early-race caution, to make sure he doesn’t lose a lap, which could end his race before it even begins.
