NASCAR: Denny Hamlin, 8 others penalized ahead of COTA race

Nine drivers have been penalized and will drop to the rear of the field ahead of Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas.

After Sunday morning’s qualifying session for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas, the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, several drivers have been issued penalties and will drop to the rear of the field for the green flag.

All of the drivers who qualified in the top 14 for this 68-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) road course in Austin, Texas are set to keep their starting positions.

But nine drivers who qualified from 15th place to 37th place are set to drop to the rear as a result of unapproved adjustments.

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Those nine drivers are Trackhouse Racing Team’s Daniel Suarez, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola and rookie Chase Briscoe, Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher, Richard Petty Motorsports’ Erik Jones, Rick Ware Racing’s James Davison, Petty Ware Racing’s Cody Ware and Front Row Motorsports rookie Anthony Alfredo.

These nine drivers were slated to start in 15th, 19th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 32nd, 35th and 37th place, respectively.

Due to the odd/even starting positions, there are six drivers who are set to drop to the tail end of the inside lane and there are three drivers who are set to drop to the tail end of the outside lane.

Suarez, Hamlin, Briscoe, Jones, Ware and Alfredo are set to drop to the tail end of the inside lane while Almirola, Buescher and Davison are set to drop to the tail end of the outside lane.

Here is the updated starting lineup for the 2021 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Starting Lineup
1st – Tyler Reddick
2nd – Kyle Larson
3rd – Austin Cindric
4th – Kyle Busch
5th – William Byron
6th – Joey Logano
7th – A.J. Allmendinger
8th – Chase Elliott
9th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Christopher Bell
11th – Kevin Harvick
12th – Alex Bowman
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Cole Custer
15th – Martin Truex Jr.
16th – Austin Dillon
17th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18th – Bubba Wallace
19th – Michael McDowell
20th – Ross Chastain
21st – Corey LaJoie
22nd – Matt DiBenedetto
23rd – Josh Bilicki
24th – Brad Keselowski
25th – Ty Dillon
26th – Justin Haley
27th – Kyle Tilley
28th – Ryan Newman
29th – Daniel Suarez
30th – Ryan Preece
31st – Denny Hamlin
32nd – Garrett Smithley
33rd – Chase Briscoe
34th – Quin Houff
35th – Erik Jones
36th – Aric Almirola
37th – Cody Ware
38th – Chris Buescher
39th – Anthony Alfredo
40th – James Davison

Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas.