By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
It’s a game of “he said, he said” following Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway between Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 team and NASCAR.
The No. 78 team failed pre-qualifying inspection three times for rear wheel alignment and rear toe issues. NASCAR has ejected car chief, Blake Harris, from Atlanta for the weekend. Harris will be able to return at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Joe Garone, president of Furniture Row Racing, spoke to the media on behalf of the team expressing their frustrations.
“It’s a new process. We are working hard collectively, the whole garage is, to figure it out. NASCAR is working with their equipment the same way, and it’s tough,” Garone stated. “One time you go through and the next time you don’t. You go through again and some things pass that didn’t pass the time before. It’s frustrating. We will get it all worked out. It’s just a matter of time.”
According to Garone, the team’s emotions are volatile as they attempt to figure out what happened.
“It’s pretty volatile at the moment because you are trying to figure out what you actually did, especially when you feel like maybe the equipment itself is off a little bit. It’s also on our side as well,” Garone continued. “The tolerances are very tight. It’s difficult to get through and push where you need to and be conservative where you need to. It does change every time you go through.”
Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, refuted the complaints of the No. 78 team.
“We had 20 people make it through on their first attempt. Multiple people saying how consistent the rear wheel alignment was versus our equipment last year,” Miller stated. “The only comments I had today on the rear wheel alignment was positive comments not negative comments. We ended up with one. I feel like we did our job.”
While the No. 78 team believes that the Optical Scanning Station was giving a misreading, Miller states that the times the team failed were 100 percent data issues.
Despite the complaints from the No. 78 team, NASCAR is happy with the results of the new system.
“We are very happy with the results both from Daytona and here. It’s unfortunate that we are talking about somebody not making it through inspection. Everybody else made it with no problem at all with time to spare,” Miller stated.
Truex will start Sunday’s race from the 35th position.