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No. 12 Nascar Mustang On Pole For COTA 2022, No. 6 Team Penalized

The No. 6 Nascar Next Gen Ford Mustang, driven by Brad Keselowski and fielded by RFK racing, was nailed with a second penalty this week after failing pre-qualifying inspection multiple times. As a result of the infraction, Keselowski’s No. 6 Mustang has lost its car chief for the March 27th racing event at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas.

Earlier this week, the No. 6 Mustang was found to be in violation of Nascar’s policy regarding the modification of a single-source part. Keselowski was docked 100 championship points and his crew chief was ejected from the next four racing events. The crew chief was also fined $100,000. Nascar did not disclose the infractions that were responsible for the pre-qualifying inspection failure at COTA. As a result, the No. 6 Mustang will start 26th.

It’s not all doom and gloom for Ford Nascar teams this weekend, as Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, nabbed the pole position with a time of 132.343 seconds around the 3.4-mile road course, barely beating out the No. 99 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Daniel Suarez, which will start second. The No. 12 Mustang has shown speed in qualifying already this year, having also nabbed the pole at Phoenix just a few weeks ago. 

Cole Custer in the No. 41 Mustang will start third, while the No. 8 Camaro of Tyler Reddick will start in fourth in the second row. Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Camaro, who won at Las Vegas earlier this year, rounds out the top five for this week’s event.

It’s also worth noting that four other teams incurred pre-qualifying penalties. Two Chevy racing teams were nailed: the No. 50 Camaro of Kaz Grala, and the No. 77 Camaro of Josh Bilicki. The No. 50 team had a chassis specialist ejected, while the No. 77 team had a race engineer removed from competition at COTA. Additionally, the No. 66 Ford of Boris Said and the No. 78 Ford of Andy Lally failed. Lally was not allowed to qualify and will serve a pass-through penalty during Sunday’s race. Nascar did not disclose why these teams were penalized.

Nascar Qualifying Results, COTA, March 26, 2022
Pos Car Number Driver Team Time Speed Car
1 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 132.343 92.759 Ford Mustang
2 99 Daniel Suarez CommScope Chevrolet 132.369 92.741 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
3 41 Cole Custer One Cure Ford 132.471 92.669 Ford Mustang
4 8 Tyler Reddick 3CHI Chevrolet 132.552 92.613 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
5 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 132.656 92.54 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
6 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 132.892 92.376 Ford Mustang
7 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 132.912 92.362 Toyota TRD Camry
8 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 133.051 92.265 Toyota TRD Camry
9 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 133.566 91.91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
10 2 Austin Cindric # Discount Tire Ford 133.94 91.653 Ford Mustang
11 45 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Toyota 132.669 92.531 Toyota TRD Camry
12 9 Chase Elliott Llumar Chevrolet 132.698 92.511 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
13 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 132.698 92.511 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
14 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 132.782 92.452 Ford Mustang
15 18 Kyle Busch Skittles Lime is Back Toyota 132.79 92.447 Toyota TRD Camry
16 1 Ross Chastain ONX Homes/iFly Chevrolet 132.801 92.439 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 132.994 92.305 Toyota TRD Camry
18 4 Kevin Harvick GEARWRENCH Ford 133.164 92.187 Ford Mustang
19 21 Harrison Burton # Freightliner Ford 133.263 92.119 Ford Mustang
20 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 133.297 92.095 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
21 3 Austin Dillon Bennett Chevrolet 133.352 92.057 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
22 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 133.356 92.054 Ford Mustang
23 23 Bubba Wallace leidos Toyota 133.682 91.83 Toyota TRD Camry
24 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 133.922 91.665 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
25 10 Aric Almirola Rush/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford 134.137 91.518 Ford Mustang
26 6 Brad Keselowski Wyndham Rewards Ford 134.149 91.51 Ford Mustang
27 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 134.164 91.5 Ford Mustang
28 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. SunnyD Chevrolet 134.255 91.438 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
29 38 Todd Gilliland # Boot Barn Ford 134.324 91.391 Ford Mustang
30 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 134.411 91.332 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
31 50 Kaz Grala(i) Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet 134.476 91.288 #N/A
32 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 134.492 91.277 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
33 42 Ty Dillon chevyliners.com Chevrolet 134.531 91.25 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
34 77 Josh Bilicki(i) Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 135.307 90.727 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
35 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 135.584 90.542 Ford Mustang
36 27 Loris Hezemans(i) Hezeberg Systems Ford 135.66 90.491 Ford Mustang
37 66 Boris Said Bumper.com Ford 138.038 88.932 Ford Mustang
38 15 Joey Hand Ford Pass Rewards Visa Ford 0 0 Ford Mustang
39 78 Andy Lally(i) MaintenanceSupplies.com Ford 0 0 Ford Mustang
  • # – Rookie
  • i – Points ineligible
  • * – Part-time driver

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Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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