If William Byron is looking to secure his fourth victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway, he’s going to have a significant amount of work to do in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Byron, who clinched the regular-season title last weekend at Richmond, will be starting from the rear of the field, as part of a penalty assessed to the Hendrick Motorsports team by NASCAR on Friday.
According to an inspection report released on Friday evening, the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team was observed making an unapproved adjustment on the front splitter. When NASCAR required the team to go back through inspection, the car failed due to the adjustment.
As a result, Rudy Fugle, the crew chief of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, has been ejected from the event. The team will also be losing their pit selection for Saturday’s event.
However, potentially more severe for Byron is that the Charlotte, North Carolina-native will have to start at the rear of the field, and serve a pass-through penalty when the race goes green on Saturday evening.
Hendrick Motorsports has yet to confirm who will be serving as the interim crew chief for Rudy Fugle during Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
William Byron was scheduled to roll from eighth.
Live Fast Motorsports, which fields the No. 78 Chevrolet for BJ McLeod, also failed pre-race inspection twice on Friday. As a result, car chief Lee Leslie has been ejected from the racetrack, and the team has lost their pit selection.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will take place on Saturday, August 23 at 7:30 pm ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
