Inspection issues deserve close look
NASCAR’s intricate — some would say ticky-tacky — inspection policy may lead to some controversial crosshairs over the next nine races. It already has. Martin Truex Jr. may get popped some points because his car failed the post-race inspection at Chicagoland on Sunday. It won’t make a difference because he won the race, and NASCAR already has ruled he is advancing to the next round.
But suppose he had finished second. Any points penalty would have crushed his championship hopes, and Truex is as solid as they come, having advanced to the Championship Four in Homestead last season.
This is where things get dicey and complicated in NASCAR’s shades-of-gray policing efforts. It had announced earlier that it would take away a victory from cars with serious post-race laser-inspection failures. Officials said Sunday that the Truex team’s technical glitch wasn’t severe enough to take away the victory.
But you can see why folks may be confused.
And you can see how this could lead to lots of noise in the system if something similar happens.
In any case, Furniture Row Racing President Joe Garone threw rival driver Kevin Harvick under the stock car, er bus, explaining the issue on Monday.
“The right rear of our car was well within the tolerance margin, which showed that we were trying to be conservative,” he said in a statement. “However, the left rear wheel alignment was off by approximately 10 thousandths
of an inch, which in high probability was due to damage in that area as a result of being hit by the No. 4 car. We believe the laser inspection numbers were correct and accept NASCAR’s decision that was made.”
Truex takes cut: Truex gets a lot of love from NASCAR Nation, and deservedly so. He’s a one-man wrecking crew with Furniture Row Racing, and his girlfriend Sherry Pollex’s battle with cancer has made it a personal and poignant ride over the years.
And now, another attaboy moment.
Team owner Barney Visser revealed over the weekend that Truex took less money to stay with Furniture Row.
Truex said it really wasn’t a hard decision.
“This is my best opportunity towin races,” he said. “We’ve proven that. ... That wasn’t something I was willing to get rid of or throw away.”