NASCAR: Kyle Larson, others penalized before Daytona

Kyle Larson and several other drivers are set to drop to the rear of the field ahead of Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR used the starting lineup formula to set the 40-car lineup for this Saturday night’s Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, but the order in which the cars take the green flag for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 will be a little bit different.

A number of drivers have been penalized and will be sent to the rear of the field ahead of this 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Polesitter and points leader Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports is one of those drivers. The others include Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie, Rick Ware Racing’s Joey Gase, Kaulig Racing’s Kaz Grala, and Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and rookie Anthony Alfredo.

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The #5 Chevrolet of Larson, the #7 Chevrolet of LaJoie, the #15 Chevrolet of Gase and the #16 Chevrolet of Grala all failed pre-race inspection multiple times. They were slated to start in first, 33rd, 37th and 38th place, respectively. Larson, LaJoie and Gase are set to drop to the tail end of the inside lane while Grala is set to drop to the tail end of the outside lane.

The #34 Ford of McDowell and the #38 Ford of Alfredo were both found in violation of Rule 20.4.11.5.a and b. According to NASCAR, “those rules deal with the deck lid extensions teams can use as A.) only NASCAR-approved deck lid extensions will be permitted and B.) the deck lid must conform to the drawing supplied by NASCAR.”

Drew Blickensderfer, the crew chief of the #34 team, and Seth Barbour, the crew chief of the #38 team, were both ejected. Jason Sheets, the #34 team’s car chief, is set to replace Blickensderfer, and Derrick Finley, Front Row Motorsports’ competition director, is set to replace Barbour.

McDowell was to have started in 18th place while Alfredo was to have started in 32nd. Both are set to drop to the tail end of the outside lane.

With these six drivers set to drop to the back of the field, everyone who was slated to start behind them is set to move up.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is set to inherit the top spot from Larson, having initially been slated to start behind him in third place, but he will not get lane choice.

Here is the updated starting lineup for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

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

Tune in to NBC now for the live broadcast of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway. Start your free trial of FuboTV today if you have not already done so!