NASCAR hands down massive penalty before Nashville Cup race

Coming off of what might have been his best career all-around NASCAR Cup Series oval performance in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which culminated in a fourth place finish, Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger set himself up quite nicely to potentially jump above the playoff cut line in Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Allmendinger, who is the second driver below the cutoff and sits just 13 points behind, qualified on row nine in a respectable 17th place. However, he will not get to take advantage of that starting position for this 300-lap race around the four-turn, 1.333-mile (2.145-kilometer) Lebanon, Tennessee oval.

After the No. 16 team made a change to the No. 16 Chevrolet's splitter after post-qualifying technical inspection, NASCAR was forced to crack down.

Allmendinger is set to drop to the rear of the field, effectively giving him a 39th place starting position, and then he must do a stop-and-go penalty in the pits after taking the green flag, meaning that he is set to lose at least a lap right from the get-go.

Additionally, the No. 16 team lost their pit selection, and car chief Jaron Antley was both ejected and had his hard card confiscated, which is probably the biggest evidence that NASCAR's overall stance on the adjustment that was made is a massive no-no.

Note that because Allmendinger was set to start on the inside of row nine, everybody on the inside lane who initially qualified behind him is set to move up a row. For example, 19th place qualifier Ryan Preece is now technically set to start in 17th, while 18th place qualifier Justin Haley is set to remain in 18th.

Here is an updated starting lineup, with Allmendinger set to drop to the back.

NASCAR Cup Series updated starting lineup at Nashville

1st - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2nd - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

3rd - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

4th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

5th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

6th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford

7th - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

8th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

9th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford

10th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford

11th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

12th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota

13th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet

14th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

15th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford

16th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford

17th - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford

18th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

19th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

20th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

21st - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

22nd - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

23rd - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

24th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

25th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

26th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

27th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford

28th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

29th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

30th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford

31st - Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota

32nd - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

33rd - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford

34th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford

35th - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota

36th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

37th - Chad Finchum, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford

38th - J.J. Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet

39th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Amazon Prime Video is currently providing live coverage of the Cracker Barrel 400 from Nashville Superspeedway.