Kurt Busch team penalized at Fontana

Seven cars failed pre-qualifying inspection Friday evening at Auto Club Speedway, but no penalty issued was bigger than Kurt Busch’s.

Busch’s No. 45 Toyota from 23XI Racing failed inspection three times. As a result, Busch will not get to post a qualifying time Saturday afternoon and will also have to serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the race (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox). Car chief David Bryant has also been ejected from the event for the remainder of the weekend.

Six other cars failed inspection twice. Those teams have lost pit stall selection for the Wise Power 400 in addition to having a crew member ejected for the weekend. It is at NASCAR’s discretion who is ejected.

The other cars involved were the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick (car chief Robert Smith); No. 6 of Brad Keselowski (car chief Nick Case); No. 12 of Ryan Blaney (car chief Raymond Fox); No. 22 of Joey Logano (car chief Jerry Kelly); No. 23 of Darrell Wallace Jr. (engineer Etienne Cliche); and No. 78 BJ McLeod (car chief Tyler Graf).

There are 36 drivers — the charter teams — entered in the event at Auto Club Speedway.