Truex talks template inspection issues and rectifying them

Truex’s crew chief, Cole Pearn, and many members of the team returned to their Denver, Colo., shop working on issues with the team’s cars, hoping to head off any potential problems next week at Atlanta.

The FRR cars of Truex and rookie Erik Jones both had difficulty getting through template inspection last weekend at Daytona. Truex also had issues last season with the roof flaps last season at Daytona.

“Our guys flew home as soon as qualifying is over and have been there working on stuff for Atlanta and trying to figure how things got screwed up and where they went wrong,” Truex said Wednesday at Daytona 500 Media Day.

“We’ve got a good bunch of guys there at the shop, some good fabricators and they’ll get it straightened out. It was definitely a setback this early in the season, especially for us. We’re building all new cars because the Toyota Camry changed body styles. Obviously, going to two cars.

“There’s definitely a lot of midnight oil being burnt in Denver.”

Walking the line

Truex said there is little the team can do to prevent the negative connotations that may arise from the team’s issues.

“At the end of the day, we have to go through inspection and pass just like everybody else,” he said. “The rules are the same for everyone and obviously we’ve had our issues in the past.

“It’s funny when you talk to Cole, he gets so angry about it because he’s like, ‘Everybody thinks there’s this master plan and we’re like these guys that try to get everything past NASCAR when it’s really just not the case.’ ”