The fix is in for Ford this year (5th Update)

Johnson's car failed inspection 3 times in Las Vegas and again in Fontana. NASCAR inspectors will nitpick the Chevys to ensure they remain at the back of the grid.

UPDATE As we told you, the fix is in for Ford this year and Chevy teams will win nothing. NASCAR inspections will not cut any Chevy teams any slack. 13 Cup teams did not make a qualifying attempt for the Auto Club 400 after they failed to pass inspection Friday – almost all Chevys.

Those teams include all four Hendrick Motorsports cars (Jimmie Johnson, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman), Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Kasey Kahne, Daniel Suarez, Timmy Hill, Cole Whitt, Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger.

All 13 cars will start from the rear Sunday.

“The first time through there were a lot of failures at all the stations, it was basically kind of split between chassis, weights and measures and the body scan, " Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition told Fox Sports 1. “The second time through it seems like most of it centered around the actual body scan itself, which honestly this is the most aerodynamic track we’ve gone to, so kind of no surprise that they would be pushing the limits here more than some of the other places."

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
25	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	0.000	0.000
26	14	Clint Bowyer	Rush Truck Centers Ford	0.000	0.000
27	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	0.000	0.000
28	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
29	24	William Byron	AXALTA Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
30	19	Daniel Suarez	ARRIS Toyota	0.000	0.000
31	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
32	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
33	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
34	95	Kasey Kahne	WRL General Contractors Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
35	51	Timmy Hill	Bubba Burgers Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
36	15	Ross Chastain	LowT Center Chevrolet	0.000	0.000
37	72	Cole Whitt	SoCal Chevy Chevrolet	0.000	0.000

The flexible rear window trick gets overlooked by NASCAR

NASCAr finally took action on the flexible rear window trick

03/08/18 Stewart-Haas Racing has released a statement about the penalty handed down to Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team.

"Late today, NASCAR made us aware of a penalty they're imposing on our number four Cup Series team. We're going to take the time and evaluate our options. And we plan to continue dialog with NASCAR to fully understand the rationale behind that penalty."

03/07/18 NASCAR issued penalties on Wednesday to Kevin Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing Team for rules infractions following the team's victory in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR docked Harvick 20 championship points while his team was also penalized 20 points after NASCAR found problems with the rear windshield on Harvick's Las Vegas-winning race car when it was examined at NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. on Tuesday.

Harvick's crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $50,000 and car chief Robert Smith was suspended for the next two races. Harvick's win will stand.

03/07/18 Kevin Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers said a rear window brace failed on the race-winning car about two-thirds through the race Sunday at Las Vegas (sure it did). He told ESPN that the window buckling would not have helped the car because it is aerodynamically better if the rear roof is round and smooth, not sharp and pointed – a likely response.

NASCAR rules require the rear window to be rigid at all times. The car passed a postrace body scan and will undergo a more thorough inspection Wednesday as part of the normal postrace tech process. Because Harvick already had won a race, any penalties wouldn't have playoff implications but Harvick could lose the seven playoff points earned at Las Vegas to carry into the postseason if NASCAR decides to penalize the team. Bob Pockrass/ESPN

Editor's Note: Other theories abound on why Harvick’s windshield may have looked as it did. Some contend that the trackbar adjustment a driver has access to and can use during a race may have had a mechanism built into it to change the slant of the rear window. Others have speculated the window was designed to buckle while the car was at speed.

Any change in how the rear windshield lays could create additional downforce. This benefit is particularly important on an aerodynamic-sensitive, high-speed track like Las Vegas where teams devise setups in an attempt to carry as much speed through the corners as possible.

Can the team take it this far before NASCAR fails them?

03/06/18 This rumor is upgraded to strong today.

This photo from the Las Vegas race on Sunday shows how the rear window on Kevin Harvick's winning Ford was flexing (right-top) downward a good 2 to 3 inches at speed, which resulted in more downforce on the rear of the car, and hence better traction and straight-line speed.

Harvick was a good 3 mph faster than everyone on Sunday. Now you know why.

This is just one example where NASCAR inspectors turn a blind eye when it's your turn to win.

03/05/18 The fix is in for Ford to win the NASCAR championship this year. Last year it was Toyota.

After Chevy had won so many titles the others threatened to leave NASCAR because they were tired of losing.

How does NASCAR do it?

They clamp down on certain manufacturers during the car inspection process and let others get away with murder.

There is no way NASCAR is going to let a Chevy car win the title this year – drivers or manufacturers.

This is an example of what they are doing this year.

NASCAR ejected the car chiefs for both Jimmie Johnson‘s team (Chevy) and Ross Chastain‘s team (Chevy) after both cars failed inspection three times before Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Chevy cars will not have a chance in 2018. It's Ford's year

The car chief for Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team is Jesse Saunders.

The car chief for Chastain’s Premium Motorsports team is Lee Leslie.

The Chevy teams will be allowed zero slack this year and they have been failing inspection a lot since the start of 2018.

What is Harvick's team doing to cheat and getting away with it by NASCAR turning a blind eye?

We do not know but his car was 3 mph than everyone else all race long in Las Vegas. Ditto for Atlanta and the Fords dominated the Daytona 500 if not for bad luck at the end, would have won that race too.

The flexible rear window trick gets overlooked by NASCAR

03/06/18

UPDATE Kevin Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers said a rear window brace failed on the race-winning car about two-thirds through the race Sunday at Las Vegas (sure it did). He told ESPN that the window buckling would not have helped the car because it is aerodynamically better if the rear roof is round and smooth, not sharp and pointed – a likely response.

Other theories abound on why Harvick’s windshield may have looked as it did. Some contend that the trackbar adjustment a driver has access to and can use during a race may have had a mechanism built into it to change the slant of the rear window. Others have speculated the window was designed to buckle while the car was at speed.