Late Daytona Inspection Issue Hammers Byron, No. 24 Team

Crew chief Rudy Fugle (right) was ejected from Daytona Int'l Speedway Friday evening. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two-time defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron has a sudden uphill battle ahead of him if he wants to sweep the season at the World Center of Racing.

Announced just before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. ET start of Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet failed NASCAR Cup Series pre-race inspection twice ahead of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

Per a statement from NASCAR, “On their second attempt through inspections after passing all stations they [the No. 24 team] were observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter. The struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”

As a result, Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle has been ejected from the racetrack for the remainder of the weekend.

Byron has also lost pit selection for Saturday’s race and will have to start from the rear of the field, instead of eighth, as well as serve a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag.

The stop-and-go will likely leave Byron a lap down to the field once he leaves pit road, due to losing the draft so early on.

It’s a heavy blow, but one that doesn’t overly hurt the big picture for Byron, who locked up the Cup Series regular season championship at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last time out with a race to spare.

The only other issue from pre-race inspection Friday was a double-inspection failure for the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet of B.J. McLeod, which resulted in the ejection of car chief Lee Leslie and the loss of pit selection for that team as well.

Broadcast coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona is slated for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.