Last week, Daytona International Speedway raced at the famed Daytona International Speedway. And before a single car touched the track, the No. 24 team with driver William Bryon saw their crew chief ejected from the event.
Ahead of track activity, teams are required to pass thru NASCAR inspection. They failed on their first attempt through the line.
On the second attempt, the No. 24 team cleared the OSS laser inspection.
The car was rolling to the shock station, to have their shocks installed before heading to the pit lane. That’s when officials noticed that the team made a change they didn’t like.
The team were told to remove the shocks that were installed on one side of the car. Officials then made the car go through the OSS inspection again. This time, they failed.
That’s a big violation as it’s making adjustments on a car that was already impounded for the weekend. NASCAR ejected crew chief Rudy Fugle as a result. The team was also not permitted to qualify (qualifying was rained out) and they were forced to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Additionally, they lost pit selection.
Byron ended up a lap down early in the race as a result of the penalty.
NASCAR crew chief ejected from Daytona International Speedway
“It’s not the first time this has happened in our inspection process,” NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran stated via ‘The Morning Drive’ on SiriusXM.
“The No. 24 car was going through for his second time. It did clear the OSS. Which means it would have passed and it was ready to put shocks on.”
“Unfortunately, one of our officials spotted something we didn’t like that was done to the car in the process of going from the OSS to the shock station.”
“At that point, we re-installed the struts on the one side. Because it just started to get the shocks installed.”
“We ran it threw to see if what the official witnessed actually happened to the car. And, again this has happened in the past. It doesn’t happen that often. But, we run it through.”
“Sure enough, it was different than when we ran it through just 10 minutes ago and the car failed. At that point, that’s basically messing with a car that’s already been impounded.”
“We don’t take kindly to that. We have all our rules in place to keep parity and keep the cars all the same as we start the event.”
“After that, we ejected the crew chief, Rudy, who does a great job. Congratulations for winning the regular-season.”
Daytona Results: August 23, 2025 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Daytona International Speedway | NASCAR