Two teams hit with penalties after failing NASCAR’s Chicago pre-race inspection

Heading into the Chicago Street Race, two teams ran into trouble during NASCAR's pre-race inspections. Josh Berry's No. 21 Ford and John Hunter Nemechek's No. 42 Toyota failed their tech inspections twice, resulting in the loss of a crew member and pit stall selection.

Nemechek and Berry went head-to-head in Round 1 of the In-Season Challenge at Echopark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), where the latter got collected in a mid-race wreck, while Nemechek barely made it through with a 26th-place finish. Thus, the Legacy Motor Club driver advanced to the second round at Chicago, where he's set to square off against Atlanta winner Chase Elliott.

After failing tech inspections twice, Berry and Nemechek avoided a pass-through penalty by clearing the third inspection. Nonetheless, losing a crew member would prove to be crucial in NASCAR's only street race circuit.

NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass shared news of the penalties on his X handle.

"Cup tech complete here in Chicago. Berry and Nemechek cars failed twice and passed on third time. Unless some extenuating circumstance, will lose crew member and pit selection," he wrote.

Bob Pockrass

@bobpockrass

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Cup tech complete here in Chicago. Berry and Nemechek cars failed twice and passed on third time. Unless some extenuating circumstance, will lose crew member and pit selection.

The Grant Park 160 is a 75-lap event happening on the streets of Chicago. The race is scheduled to host both the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series. Sunday's (July 6) main race takes place at 2 PM ET and will be broadcast live on TNT Sports.

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"Most likely gonna end in contact": Parker Kligerman predicts trouble for NASCAR drivers at Chicago

Part-time Truck Series driver Parker Kligerman shared his verdict of Chicago's street course, highlighting turn 4 as NASCAR's 'trickiest braking zone.' The Chicago Street Race is known for its unforgiving layout with sharp 90-degree corners and asphalt-to-concrete transitions.

In a breakdown of the track, Kligerman shared an X post in collaboration with CW Sports.

"After turn 3, you enter the trickiest braking zone in all of NASCAR, possibly motorsports, and it is about a hundred different asphalt types that you'll run across. It's incredibly bumpy, and then you enter a very tight section, from turn 4 to turn 5... Down into turn 7, that looks at Michigan Avenue there. A super slow corner, one of the best passing zones possibly. If you try to go side-by-side, it's most likely gonna end in contact," he said.

Here's an incident back in 2023 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost control during practice at Turn 4.

Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick also wrecked during practice, forcing them to use backup cars for the main race.

Shane Van Gisbergen enters Sunday's race as the clear favorite, having won last month's Mexico City race, yet another road course. However, Michael McDowell pushed back on SVG's perceived dominance, suggesting that the Trackhouse Racing driver isn't 'unbeatable.'