NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr Faces Inspection Troubles As Another Driver Fails

Martin Truex Jr’s start to the Brickyard 400 weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was made difficult by several technical inspection issues. Initially cleared in the inspection, Truex’s car was later flagged for further scrutiny, requiring multiple inspections before finally being passed.

Truex, who is in his farewell season with Joe Gibbs Racing, has found the recent races particularly taxing. His performance has dipped noticeably, with only two top-10 finishes in the past nine races. Things reached a boiling point at Pocono where Truex made his frustration painfully clear, stating, as quoted by On3.com:

“This thing is so f**king slow on the straightaway. Junk. F**king junk.”

Simultaneously, Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports encountered his own share of technical difficulties at Indianapolis, failing the technical inspection twice. These infractions led to severe penalties including the loss of pit stall selection and the service of his car chief, likely for the rest of the weekend, further complicating his race strategy.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports noted these inspection challenges and failures on the social media platform X, bringing attention to the hurdles the driver was going through:

“Truex car having a tech issue and is only car not yet through Cup tech. Awaiting details. Gilliland car failed twice before passing and will likely lose crew member and pit selection.

“Truex car initially passed tech but nascar appeared not to like something and they went through couple more times before passing. Still TBD/TBA if similar to other teams in past weeks that were drop to rear. pass-through after first lap, crew member ejected. lose pit selection.”

Brickyard 400, Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting lineup:

1. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
2. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
3. No. 9 Chase Elliott
4. No. 24 William Byron
5. No. 5 Kyle Larson
6. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
7. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
8. No. 34 Michael McDowell
9. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
11. No. 3 Austin Dillon
12. No. 22 Joey Logano
13. No. 48 Alex Bowman
14. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
15. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
16. No. 21 Harrison Burton
17. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
18. No. 20 Christopher Bell
19. No. 7 Corey LaJoie
20. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
21. No. 10 Noah Gragson
22. No. 33 Ty Dillon
23. No. 17 Chris Buescher
24. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
25. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
26. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
27. No. 71 Zane Smith
28. No. 1 Ross Chastain
29. No. 43 Erik Jones
30. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
31. No. 41 Ryan Preece
32. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
33. No. 84 Jimmie Johnson
34. No. 8 Kyle Busch
35. No. 51 Justin Haley
36. No. 15 Cody Ware
37. No. 4 Josh Berry
38. No. 2 Austin Cindric
39. No. 66 B.J. McLeod