NASCAR ejects six crew members after Cup and Truck inspection failures

On Friday, each of the 31 NASCAR Truck Series entries for Kansas Speedway rolled through inspection. Most of the teams made it through without much drama, but not all of them. Four trucks, including three from ThorSport Racing, struggled to pass. 

They were the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford of Ben Rhodes, the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford of Ty Majeski, the No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford of Matt Crafton, as well as the No. 26 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet of Dawson Sutton.

Matt Crafton, ThorSport Racing Ford

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Each of these trucks failed twice before passing on the third attempt. As a result, each team will lose pit stall selection for next weekend's race at North Wilkesboro, but there was a more immediate punishment as well. Each of their car chiefs -- or rather, 'truck' chiefs, have been ejected from the track for the remainder of the race weekend. This is common protocol for when there are two failures in trying to pass pre-race inspection.

Brad Means (No. 98), Derek Rohlfing (No. 99), Tyler Kontos (No. 88), and Tucker Scanlon (No. 26) will be watching the race from afar on Saturday. This will be the extent of the penalties.

ThorSport, which has won the last two Truck Series titles (Rhodes in 2023 and Majeski in 2024), have yet to visit Victory Lane this year. The team's fourth entry is the No. 66, driven by Luke Baldwin this weekend, which made it through tech without issue.

UPDATE: On Saturday, two Cup teams failed twice as well before passing on the third attempt. They were the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota of Tyler Reddick and the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Todd Gilliland. Both lose their car chief and pit stall selection for this weekend's race at Kansas. Car chiefs Joe Marra (No. 34) and Michael Hobson (No. 45) were ejected from the track, bringing the total to six for the weekend.