CONCORD, N.C. — Overheard conversation in the NASCAR Cup Series garage: “Kind of weird, isn’t it? It’s like a test session without a test.”
And so it was Thursday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosted pre-race inspection for a race it’s not hosting.
NASCAR competition officials scrutineered and approved the 39 entries for the season-opening Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, conducting their tests and checks at the 1.5-mile Charlotte track’s garage. The speedway was chosen as a convenient alternate site for inspection, given the small footprint of the garage area at the stadium, which will be host of Sunday’s preseason exhibition (8 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for the first time.
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While the two-track, two-stage start to the race weekend was unusual, it’s not a drastic departure from how flexible teams and officials have had to be in recent years. Garage setups and inspection stations have been placed on major metropolitan thoroughfares (Chicago Street Race) and in tailgate lots and side streets (during the Clash’s three-year run at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum).
“I think in this day and age, you’ve got to expect about anything,” said Paul Wolfe, crew chief for the Team Penske No. 22 Ford of defending Cup champ Joey Logano. “That’s what I’ve come to realize, that nothing will really surprise you anymore — and I say that in a good way, right? I mean, this made a lot of sense for the constraints we have up there, as far as space and whatnot. …
“We’ve done so many things in the last handful of years that I don’t think anyone would ever have thought, and we make it work. A lot of times, we learn a lot from it, and we continue to evolve as a sport. I think that’s the biggest thing, is staying open-minded, and I think the last few years has really taught all of us that we’ve got to work together. There’s a lot of people with great ideas.”
As the reigning championship-winning team, Wolfe’s No. 22 Ford was the first car through Thursday. Officials made use of the cover of the Cup Series garage for templates, scales and the optical scanning station, and each organization loaded primary cars from two teams into a single hauler once inspection was complete.
Officials placed tamper-proof seals on the hood, rear deck and hauler doors to secure their work. The haulers were to stay overnight at the Charlotte track before making their way to Winston-Salem for Friday’s load-in, all ahead of Saturday’s on-track sessions.
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Cup Series director Brad Moran said Thursday afternoon that operations had gone smoothly, thanking the officials at track owners Speedway Motorsports for the use of their facilities.
“This really made it convenient for the teams,” Moran said as the inspection rounds were nearing completion. “… We’ll get them parked tomorrow, and we’ll be ready to go on Saturday. So real good, and it was welcome from the teams. They appreciate it, and we’re getting through them pretty good, so we should be out of here on time, and everybody’s looking forward to a great weekend at Bowman Gray.”
Inspection indeed was completed without issue, and officials reported there were no multiple failures. It was a relatively quiet procedure — pierced only by Ford Performance vehicles making demonstration runs for the manufacturer’s preseason splash — before load-in begins at the quarter-mile track known as “The Madhouse.”
“It was uniquely calm today. I think it’s great,” said Phil Surgen, crew chief of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet for Ross Chastain. “You know, all the shops are five minutes down the road, our houses are 15 minutes down the street, so this works out really well for all the team guys, and NASCAR accomplished everything they wanted to get done today, too. So, yeah, I welcome this.”
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