As the checkered flag dropped at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Ryan Preece crossed the line in a career-best second place, half a car length behind race winner Austin Cindric.
A few hours later, Preece was sitting in 38th place in the official race results.
Preece and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano were disqualified from the Jack Link’s 500 after their cars failed post-race inspection — specifically, NASCAR found technical violations in the rear spoilers.
That dropped Preece’s No. 60 Ford to 38th place and Logano’s No. 22 Ford into 39th, last place. Logano crossed the finish line in fifth place.
According to a NASCAR report, officials found “unapproved shims in the rear spoiler area.” Logano’s car violated rules relating to spoiler braces used during superspeedway races, per the report.
“The No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang was disqualified following post-race inspection at Talladega today,” Team Penske said in a statement. “One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalized the team as a result. This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification.”
Cindric picked up his first win of the season as Fords originally had four cars finish in the top 6.
NASCAR also announced the No. 5 of Kyle Larson (who moved up to second after the DQs) and the 21 of Josh Berry (26th place) would undergo additional inspection this week at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C.
–Field Level Media
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