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Kevin Harvick’s Car Fails Pre-Qualifying Inspection

Pete McCole

Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Ford failed inspection three times on Thursday
Pete McCole/ AR1

Kevin Harvick cashed in a million dollars after winning the NASCAR All Star Race last weekend, but wound up with a stiff penalty on Thursday after his No. 4 Ford Fusion failed to make it through pre-qualifying inspection three times prior to knockout qualifying for Sunday's Coca Cola 600 and Harvick was not able to make a qualifying attempt – putting him at the tail-end of the field for Sunday's race.

Harvick's team will lose 30 minutes of practice time on Saturday, and Harvick's car chief Robert "Cheddar" Smith has been ejected for the weekend.

Harvick's crew chief Rodney Childers said the didn't make it through the Optical Scanning Station despite passing inspection earlier in the day.

"There were some things in the garage that basically the template side of it wasn't getting used and straight edges weren't getting used and we were just purely going off the OSS, and that was fine until it somewhat starts getting out of hand," said Childers. "They changed some things around last week and some personnel around and positions around and started checking things differently.

"I'll be honest with you, we worked on this thing for 12 hours on Monday trying to get all of it how they wanted it. We felt good about it when we unloaded it. We went through there and the hotel was green and everything was good, and then we went back through for qualifying and it was red. We sanded on it and it was more red, and we sanded on it again and it was more red, so that part of it I don't understand.

"That part is disappointing, but it's not their fault. Everybody is gonna push things as much as they can and I think everybody knows that the 4 team is out to push things as much as they can and win races, so it's disappointing to start in the back. It's disappointing not to have Cheddar (Smith, car chief) here, but we'll get through it as a race team and we'll have a good car on Sunday."

– Pete McCole reporting from Charlotte Motor Speedway