NASCAR hands out major penalties for Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain after pre race inspection for Cup Series race at Bristol

Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain and three other drivers will start on the back foot at Bristol Motor Speedway. The teams have lost pit selection and a crew member after failing NASCAR’s pre-race inspections.

Of the five drivers, Larson and Chastain are the only ones to start among the top-10. Chastain has qualified in sixth, while Larson trails him by two spots. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney put his car on top with a top speed of 127.064 mph.

Notably, Chastain and Larson are the only drivers from their respective teams to make the top-10. Larson is also competing in the O’Reilly race in preparation for Sunday.

NASCAR reporter Toby Christie shared the list of penalties on X.

“Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Cole Custer, and Chad Finchum will be without their car chiefs and will lose pit selection after two pre-race inspection fails. Michael McDowell (also failed twice) will lose pit selection and has had an engineer ejected,” he wrote.

Kyle Larson is looking to end his nearly year-long winless streak. The Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted that wins are tough to come by.

The two-time Cup champion keeps winning in sprint cars, however. He last won the High Limit Series season opener at Las Vegas, beating the likes of HMS prodigy Corey Day.

Sunday’s Food City 500 is scheduled for 3 PM ET. Fans can watch the race on FS1 and HBO Max, or listen to radio updates on SiriusXM NASCAR radio.

Kyle Larson compares heart rate between NASCAR and sprint car races

Kyle Larson recently went over his heart rate at NASCAR and sprint car races. In a press conference at Bristol, Larson was asked about his Fitbit stats at tracks like Daytona.

“Average would probably only be like 135,” Larson responded, “but like you go to Bristol or something, and it’ll probably be an average of 165, you know, because there’s just more action and you’re like physically working a little harder.”

“And then sprint cars. It’s like 197 or higher. Yeah, if a race goes green, you know, seven- minute race. Like, you’ll be more worn out for that than a three and a half hour NASCAR race,” he added.

Kyle Larson has racked up impressive stats at Bristol. The No.5 driver has nabbed two consecutive wins and five top-5 finishes in the Next Gen Era. He has won thrice at the half-mile concrete, with three runner-up finishes to boot.

Larson had his most dominant outing during the 2024 Bristol Night Race, where he swept both stages and led 462 laps up front. The Californian replicated the feat in 2025 and led 411 laps with two stage wins.

His last race at the track, however, saw him finishing a paltry 32nd.