Suarez And Truex Fail Brickyard 400 Pre-Race Tech

By Dan Margetta
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Updated: September 9, 2018

Martin Truex Jr. at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. [John Wiedemann Photo]

by Dan Margetta

Speedway, Ind., Sept. 8—While no laps were turned on track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday due to all day rains, some drama existed in the inspection process as both the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota driven by Daniel Suarez and the Furniture Row Racing Toyota No. 78 driven by defending Monster Energy Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-race technical inspection multiple times and thus were relegated to the rear of the field for Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard.

Suarez’s No. 19 Toyota, which was originally scheduled to start 20^th, failed the pre-race inspection process four times and in addition to starting from the rear, also incurred additional penalties including having car chief Todd Brewer ejected for Sunday’s race along with the loss of ten driver points.

The No. 78 Toyota, driven by Truex, will also start from the rear after failing the pre-race inspection process three times and will also have team car chief Blake Harris ejected but will not incur a points penalty.

Persistent rain washed out all on-track action on Saturday and the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard starting field was set by owner’s points and the NASCAR rule book.

Earlier in the week, Furniture Row Racing announced it was shutting down the No. 78 team at the end of the season after being unable to find funding to be competitive and ironically it has been widely speculated that driver Martin Truex Jr. will replace Suarez in the No. 19 Toyota next season.

The Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard is set to take the green flag Sunday at 1 PM ET which is an hour earlier than originally scheduled again due to weather concerns. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag from the front row as the Monster Energy Cup Series playoff grid will be set upon the conclusion of the race