NASCAR penalizes SVG and McDowell, ejects crew chiefs for unapproved adjustments

McDowell and Van Gisbergen will serve an in-race penalty after the No. 71 team made unapproved adjustments

On their second attempt to pass NASCAR Cup inspection at Kanas Speedway, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team was observed making unapproved adjustments to the splitter.

After officials caught this, NASCAR says "the struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the OSS and failed due to the adjustment."

The No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet of Shane van Gisbergen was found to have also made unapproved adjustments, resulting in several penalties.

No. 71 crew chief Travis Peterson and No. 88 crew chief Stephen Doran have been ejected for the remainder of the weekend, but there is more.

Both drivers will have to start from the rear of the field and perform a stop-and-go penalty at the start of the race. McDowell had qualified 21st and van Gisbergen 24th.

Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

McDowell entered this race 25th in the championship standings, while SVG was recently eliminated from the title fight and sits 15th in points.

While all of 12 playoff drivers made it through without issue, there was another inspection failure involving the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford of Cody Ware.

The car failed twice before passing on the third attempt, so car chief Dave Jones has been ejected from the event and they have also lost their pit stall selection.

There were also three double failures in pre-race inspection for the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday.