Kyle Larson to Serve Pass Through Penalty for Unapproved Adjustment to Roof Rail; Car Chief Ejected

Kyle Larson, who will roll from the starting grid from the 38th position in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, has had his car chief Jessie Saunders ejected, and the driver will have to serve a pass-through penalty following the start of the race.

The penalties announced by NASCAR on Sunday morning stem from an unapproved adjustments infraction found on the team's car prior to qualifying. According to NASCAR, the team will not incur any additional penalties for the infraction.

On Saturday, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team saw their run of three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series pole positions come to an end after they were not permitted to take a qualifying lap for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR ruled that Larson was ineligible to take a lap in qualifying due to unapproved adjustments to the roof rail on the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which was noticed as the car was pushed to the grid for Busch Light Qualifying on Saturday morning.

Heading into this weekend, Larson had a series-best average starting position of 7.7. The driver now has an average starting position of 10.7 following the last-place starting spot this weekend.

However, starting position means very little at Talladega Superspeedway, where drivers can easily make up ground by way of the draft. That being said, the pass-through penalty that Larson will need to serve at the beginning of Sunday's race is the biggest penalty of the bunch.

Larson will for sure lose the lead draft at minimum, and at worst, he will lose a lap in the opening laps of Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway. If he can get a quick caution, Larson will get a chance to rebound, but if the first caution doesn't come until additional cars are trapped a lap down, it could be a tough ordeal for Larson to dig out of.

The California native, who has 24-career NASCAR Cup Series wins and was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has yet to score a victory at a superspeedway drafting track.

Photo Credit: Craig White, TobyChristie.com