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.
| 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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