LOUDON, N.H. — Kyle Larson is making a habit of flunking NASCAR inspections.
Knocked from the top of the points standings this week because of an inspection failure, Larson was stripped of his pole Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and had his winning time tossed out for yet another infraction. He will start at the rear of the field for Sunday’s Cup race.
Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to green for the first time this season.
“Not the way we wanted to get our first pole of the year but looking forward to starting up front,” Truex said.
Larson’s time was disallowed because of an unapproved rear deck fin lid. NASCAR said there would be no additional penalties.
He had raced to the top of the field without his suspended crew chief, turning a lap of 133.324 mph for what would have been his fourth pole of the season. Larson’s team was penalized 35 points this week by NASCAR, erasing what had been a one-point advantage over Truex in the driver standings. Crew chief Chad Johnston was suspended for three races because of a rear brake cooling assembly that did not meet standards.
“I wish I could have him on the box on Sunday, but we will be strong these next few weeks,” Larson said.
Team owner Chip Ganassi did not appeal the penalty issued for failing postrace inspection at Kentucky. Tony Lunders is serving as interim crew chief.
“I know nothing about race cars,” Larson said. “I don’t honestly know what it was that got us in trouble. Yeah, a big penalty so it must have been something important in their eyes.”
Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Kasey Kahne completed the top five behind Truex after everyone moved up a spot.
Johnson, the seven-time Cup champion, will start in the top five for the first time this season.
Kenseth had a solid round just days after it was announced he would be out at Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the season. Furniture Row Racing driver Erik Jones, who will replace Kenseth, starts seventh. Kyle Busch starts eighth and Denny Hamlin ninth to give JGR three drivers in the top 10.
FORMULA ONE: After setting the pace in practice for the British Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas’ bid for a second straight victory was hurt by a five-place penalty on the grid for Sunday’s race.
The sanction was imposed because of an unscheduled gearbox change.
Bottas, who won the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, had outpaced Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in practice.
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