NASCAR held pre-race inspection at World Wide Technology Raceway to start the weekend which lead to Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski receiving penalties.
RFK Racing’s No. 6 Ford Mustang and Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford Mustang both failed inspection twice, according to a NASCAR report. As a result, both teams were powerless to choose their pit stalls following qualifying.
Additionally, NASCAR dismissed a crew member from each team. Ryan Blaney will be without car chief Raymond Fox while Brad Keselowski will be without crew chief Nick Case for the weekend.
On the third attempt, the two cars passed inspection, allowing the drivers to qualify. Blaney qualified on the front row with the second-fastest time behind Kyle Busch. Keselowski qualified for the 10th row with the 19th-fastest time.
In his second season with RFK Racing, the No. 6 Ford Mustang’s driver has generally performed well. He now has six top-10 finishes, which is the same total he achieved in 2022. Additionally, he has three top-five finishes, including a second-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Keselowski has the chance to add another impressive performance to his resume during the race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Though he had a problem in the morning practice.
On his first lap at WWTR, Keselowski wrecked a left rear tire. He avoided a crash that would have wrecked the RFK Racing Ford Mustang and required the usage of a backup car. However, Keselowski lost significant time in practice at a track where he is inexperienced.
Blaney has a chance thanks to the trip to World Wide Technology Raceway. He may attempt to capitalize on his victory in the Coca-Cola 600 and have a successful summer to help him rack up playoff points.
The amount of downforce the Ford teams can produce on these courses is a concern. Ahead of the Coca-Cola 600, Joey Logano made a point of mentioning this. He said that even a small setup error could cause the teams to have a difficult day.
“It’s no secret that we’ve struggled a bit on the intermediates, mile-and-a-halves, just searching for speed and figuring out the new nose we have,” Blaney told media members on June 3.
“It’s been a little bit of a struggle… I’m really proud of the efforts from everybody — Ford, Penske, and Roush Yates Engines. I mean we were all working around the clock, trying to get better.
“I think hopefully what we found at Charlotte — to have the speed we had to contend with the cars that have been really good on the mile-and-a-halves — hopefully, we can carry that forward to other mile-and-a-halves, and maybe even everywhere else.
“Everything kind of matters. So, that was definitely a shot in the arm, for sure, and hopefully, we can continue that success and that speed.”
