Fugle ejected from Daytona, Byron sent to rear after inspection issue

Rudy Fugle, crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, has been ejected from Daytona International Speedway for a Friday inspection infraction.

NASCAR says the team was observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter of its race car. The car passed all inspection stations on its second attempt, and then the adjustment was made. Per NASCAR, “The struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”

In addition to Fugle being ejected from the event, Byron will start at the rear of the field for the Coke Zero 400 (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET). Byron was slated to start eighth. The team also lost its pit stall selection and must serve a stop-and-go penalty on pit road after taking the green flag.

Team engineer Brandon McSwain will serve as interim crew chief Saturday night.

Saturday is the regular-season finale in the Cup Series, which will finalize the playoff field. Byron, Fugle and the team clinched the regular season title last weekend at Richmond Raceway.

Byron will attempt to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2013 to sweep the season at Daytona. He won his second consecutive Daytona 500 in February.

Live Fast Motorsports was the only other team to have an inspection issue on Friday. B.J. McLeod's No. 78 failed inspection twice and had car chief Lee Leslie ejected from the event. The team also lost pit stall selection ahead of Saturday night’s race.