Five NASCAR Cup team members ejected after multiple inspection failures at Bristol

Five teams failed pre-race inspection twice for the NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway, including Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain

NASCAR has ejected four car chiefs and one engineer after NASCAR Cup Series inspection at Bristol Motor Speedway. Five cars failed pre-race inspection twice, resulting in the loss of a key team member from each for the remainder of the weekend, and the loss of pit stall selection no matter where they qualify on the grid. They will be given whatever five stalls are left after the rest of the field chooses.

The cars that failed twice on Saturday were the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of Ross Chastain, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet of Cole Custer, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford of Chad Finchum, and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of Michael McDowell -- four Chevrolets and one Ford.

While the car chief was ejected for Larson, Chastain, Custer, and Finchum, one of McDowell's engineers was ejected from the Spire group.

All cars passed on the third attempt, so they will still be permitted to qualify and won't have to serve any in-race penalties.

Inspection failures like this are not uncommon, and it's now happened several times early in the 2026 season. At Darlingon, three teams had issues (Elliott, Buescher, THill), four at Las Vegas (Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, TDillon), and two at Atlanta (ADillon, McLeod).

Additionally, the No. 38 team FRM of Zane Smith was penalized at Phoenix after they were caught making unapproved adjustments following inspection.

The No. 66 open entry is the only team to encounter issues in pre-race inspection in more than one race so far this year.