NASCAR: Many drivers penalized before Fontana race

There were several pre-race penalties handed out ahead of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season’s second race at Auto Club Speedway.

The start of the Next Gen era has proven to be somewhat of a steep learning curve for NASCAR drivers and teams, and that has been put on full display at Auto Club Speedway this weekend ahead of the WISE Power 400.

Ahead of this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) oval in Fontana, California, a several drivers have been issued penalties, including eight that will start the race from the rear of the field.

Trackhouse Racing’s Team Ross Chastain will be using a backup #1 Chevrolet after his crash in Saturday’s practice session, while unapproved adjustments were made to the #4 Ford of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, the #5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the #6 Ford of RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, the #22 Ford of Team Penske’s Joey Logano, the #23 Toyota of 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, and the #31 Chevrolet of Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley.

Notably, four of these drivers (Harvick, Chastain, Wallace and Haley) were already set to start in the back from 32nd through 35th place, respectively, after not making qualifying attempts on Saturday.

Logano was to have started in seventh place while Keselowski was to have started in 10th and Larson was to have started in 13th, meaning that Logano and Larson are set to drop to the back of the inside lane and Keselowski is set to drop to the back of the outside lane.

The one driver set to start the race behind them, 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch, also did not make a qualifying attempt behind the wheel of his #45 Toyota, but that was predetermined.

The #45 Toyota failed pre-qualifying inspection three times, meaning that it was not eligible to qualify for the race and must serve a pass-through penalty from the rear of the field once the race gets underway. Additionally, car chief David Bryant was ejected.

Here is the updated starting lineup for the 2022 WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, with the pre-race penalties factored in.

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

Tune in to Fox right now for the live broadcast of the WISE Power 400 from Auto Club Speedway. If you have not yet started your free trial of FuboTV, do so today!