Truex, Jr. To Start In The Rear At Atlanta After Car Fails Inspection

The No. 78 failed to make it through inspection three times

Pete McCole/AR1

Martin Truex, Jr. will have to start in the rear of the field for Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway after his No. 78 Toyota failed three times to make it through NASCAR pre-qualifying technical inspection.

As a result of the infractions, the team's car chief Blake Harris will be suspended from Sunday’s race and the team will also lose 30 minutes of practice time in Saturday’s final practice session. Had the team failed inspection a fourth time on Friday, they would have risked losing crew chief Cole Pearn for the weekend as well.

Truex's car experienced issues with body scan problem and rear toe alignment that the team was unable to resolve in their three passes through NASCAR's optical scanning system, according to NASCAR VP of Competition Scott Miller.

"We had rear wheel alignment problems and we had body scan problems (on the 78) and had rear toe failures as well and we just weren't able to get all the things legal in those attempts," said Miller. "Between the combinations of those, we didn't get a green light the third time through."

Jimmie Johnson and Harrison Rhodes both made it through inspection on their third attempts. Johnson made it onto the track in time to qualify 22nd, while Rhodes did not make it out to qualify and will start 36th behind Truex, Jr.