RICHMOND, Va. — Kevin Harvick is set to start from the pole on Saturday in the NASCAR race at Richmond Raceway, but the field has been jumbled considerably.
NASCAR says eight cars failed prerace inspection, including three that failed twice. They include the cars of local favorite Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner on the 0.75-mile oval, Chase Elliott and Matt Tifft.
As a result, NASCAR disqualified their qualifying speeds, sending them to the rear of the field, disallowed their pit stall selections and ejected one engineer from each team for the race.
Five other teams failed inspection and had their qualifying speeds and pit selections disallowed. They were those of seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Joey Gase.