The crew chiefs for both Front Row Motorsports cars — the No. 34 Ford of Michael McDowell and the No. 38 Ford of Anthony Alfredo — have been ejected before Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and both cars will drop to the rear ahead of the 160-lap race. In addition, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Kyle Larson will start from the rear for multiple pre-race inspection failures.
Front Row Motorsports crew chiefs Drew Blickensderfer (No. 34) and Seth Barbour (No. 38) were ejected following pre-race inspection penalties. McDowell was slated to start 18th, while Alfredo was set to start 32nd. McDowell won the Daytona 500 in February and is one of three drivers with top 10s in both superspeedway races this year.
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Jason Sheets, car chief for the No. 34, will fill in as McDowell’s crew chief, while competition director Derrick Finley will serve as Alfredo’s crew chief, according to the team.
The ejections came after it was found that the cars did not conform to NASCAR rule specifications per: Rule 20.4.11.5.a and b. Those rules deal with the deck lid extensions teams can use as a. only NASCAR-approved deck lid extensions will be permitted and b. the deck lid must conform to the drawing supplied by NASCAR.
Larson had been slated to start from the pole in Saturday’s race and will still be credited as the polesitter. He is locked in a battle for the regular-season championship and enters the final race of the regular season with a 28-point lead over Denny Hamlin.