The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was caught making unapproved changes after going through pre-race technical inspections.
“On their second attempt through inspections after passing all stations they were observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter,” NASCAR said in a statement.
“The struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”
As punishment, Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle has been ejected from the event.
The team loses its pit selection and will start from the rear of the field for the 160-lap race on Sunday (AEST).
Byron must perform a stop-and-go penalty after receiving the green flag.
He was poised to start eighth after qualifying was rained out but will instead start 40th.
Brandon McSwain will be promoted from race engineer to crew chief for the Daytona weekend in Fugle’s absence.
Shane van Gisbergen will line up 16th in the #88 Trackhouse Racing Camaro while Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in the #12 Ford Mustang starts on pole.
BJ McLeod also had his car chief Lee Leslie ejected from the event and lost pit selection for failing inspection twice.
Sunday’s race gets underway at 9:55am AEST.
Get the latest NASCAR news, stats, and US racing coverage at Speedcafe US
Discussion about this post