TALLADEGA, Ala. - NASCAR confiscated a left front jack screws from the car of Martin Truex Jr. during pre-qualifying inspection Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, but crew chief Cole Pearn said the issue was unintentional.
Motorsport.com first reported NASCAR’s actions.
“It was just a stupid mistake,’' Pearn said after Truex won the pole for Sunday’s race. “Obviously, you’re not trying to lower the center of gravity on just the left front corner of one part of the car seems kind of ridiculous to get spun out as much as control as it has so far.’'
NASCAR typically does not determine a penalty until the following week.
“It was a mistake and we’ve fixed it and we were able to find another one and move on,’' Pearn said. “Stuff like that happens all the time. We’re not perfect. I know that people think we’re brilliant geniuses that have malicious plans to cheat the system somehow but sometimes we’re just stupid and make mistakes. That’s really just what happened.’'
Pearn said when the team changed a left front spring on Friday and that’s when he said the mistake was made. He said the other corners of the car were correct.