While plenty of drivers will leave North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday frustrated by the NASCAR starting lineup for Sunday’s race being determined by the metric score, Ross Chastain and two others have even more reason to be upset.
Due to inclement weather in the area, Cup Series qualifying on Saturday night at North Wilkesboro was canceled. Because of the performance metric scoring system, poor finishes last weekend from Bubba Wallace (26th), Kyle Larson (27th) and Chase Briscoe (30th) mean they will be starting Sunday’s race near the back of the field. However, their frustrations pale in comparison to a few of their peers.
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As first reported by Chris Knight, the cars for drivers Austin Hill and Connor Zilisch both failed inspection twice on Saturday. They’ll each lose a crew member and not be able to make pit selection for Sunday’s Window World 450. Things are even worse for Chastain.
The No. 1 car failed inspection three times before practice on Saturday evening. As a result, Chastain will be required to serve a drive-thru penalty at the start of Sunday night’s race, in addition to losing pit selection and a crew member.
It marks the second time in three weeks that one of the Cup Series drivers has had to serve a pass-thru penalty at the start of their race after their car failed inspection three times. Michael McDowell went through it at Chicagoland, ultimately finishing the race in 29th place.
The pass-thru penalty is just another example of how disastrous the 2026 season has been for Chastain with Trackhouse Racing. Ordinarily a contender for a top-10 spot in the standings, Chastain entered the weekend 20th in points (401) and trailing The Chase cutline by 45 points.
As a result of the penalty, Chastain will start Sunday night’s race at the rear of the field before having to come down pit road to serve the pass-thru penalty. By the time he gets back on track and up to speed, he’ll already be 2 laps down from the leaders. Realistically, Chastain could leave North Wilkesboro 60-plus points below the cutline with only five races left in the regular season.
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