Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, has cast doubt on Kyle Larson‘s claim that his rear window was sagging after Saturday’s Cup race due to race damage.
“We see claims of damage, but I think in talking to our folks, I’ve never seen damage cause that,” O’Donnell said Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive.” “We’ll go back like we always do and thoroughly inspect the car. It’s an area we continue to focus on because the teams know that they found something there and if we have to react, we will, but again, still looking at it.”
Extra attention was paid to Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet following the race at Kansas Speedway. An official kept watch over it on pit road, and it was taken to the R&D Center for additional scrutiny.
The rear window appeared to be sagging, which Larson attributed to damage from an incident with Ryan Blaney with 20 laps to go.
“Definitely (from the damage) because I didn’t have it until after Blaney and I got together, so I’m glad to see that we have a lot of damage back there,” Larson told FS1 after finishing fourth. “Because obviously if there was no damage, we’d probably get a penalty, and who knows we might still, but I got a ton of damage back there.
“These cars are pretty rigid, and one piece of damage can affect the whole rest of the car as you can see, so we’ll see what NASCAR says about it, but I think it’s pretty obvious we have a ton of damage back there.”
NASCAR has issued four penalties for rear window violations this season: Kevin Harvick’s team after a Las Vegas win; Chase Elliott’s team after an 11th at Texas; and Daniel Suarez and Clint Bowyer each lost their car chiefs for two races because of rear window support brace failures at Dover.
O’Donnell was asked about the possibility of news later in the week about Larson’s car.
“I think there’s certainly something you can look for,” O’Donnell said. “With the race teams, no different than rear skew in the past where it was an area teams found that they could work on. Suddenly, it’s become the rear window area.”
