NASCAR officials issued penalties to four Cup Series teams Saturday after multiple inspection failures ahead of the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
According to NASCAR, the teams for Austin Cindric, Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger and William Byron each failed pre-race inspection twice during the Las Vegas race weekend.
As a result, the car chiefs for those teams were ejected for the remainder of the weekend.
The penalties affect the following teams:
- Eric Bailey, No. 2 Team Penske Ford (Austin Cindric)
- Troy Lankford Jr., No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet (Ty Dillon)
- Jaron Antley, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet (AJ Allmendinger)
- Jacob Bowman, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (William Byron)
In addition to the car chief ejections, all four teams will lose pit selection for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube.
Despite the penalties, all four cars passed inspection on a later attempt and were allowed to qualify for the race.
A third inspection failure would have resulted in a drive-through penalty at the start of the race.
William Byron enters the weekend with previous success at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver won the spring race at the 1.5-mile track in 2023.
Inspection issues like this are not uncommon during NASCAR race weekends, though multiple teams receiving the same penalty during a single session can significantly impact preparation heading into race day.
None of the four drivers involved currently sit inside the top ten in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings early in the 2026 season.
The Pennzoil 400 is scheduled for Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell will lead the field to green after winning the pole in Cup Series qualifying Saturday, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin starting alongside him on the front row.
NASCAR Ejects 4 Car Chiefs After Las Vegas Inspection Failures