Hendrick busted for unapproved adjustments as William Byron penalized at Daytona

Two-time Daytona 500 winner and 2025 regular season champion William Byron will face an uphill battle at Daytona on Saturday night. NASCAR caught Hendrick Motorsports making unapproved adjustments to the No. 24 Chevrolet.

“On their second attempt through inspections after passing all stations they were observed making an unapproved adjustment to the splitter,” read an official statement from NASCAR. “The struts were reinstalled, and the car was rerun over the USS and failed due to the adjustment.”

Penalties for the #24

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

As a result, NASCAR has ejected crew chief Rudy Fugle from the track, the team has lost pit selection, and they must start from the rear of the field (Byron was going to start eighth)

Additionally, Byron must perform a stop and go penalty after receiving the green flag, which will likely put him a lap down after losing the draft.

Motorsport.com was able to confirm with NASCAR that there will be no additional penalties for the No. 24 car. Engineer Brandon McSwain will fill the role of crew chief for the remainder of the race weekend.

The only other issue in pre-race technical inspection for the Cup Series involved the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. B.J. McLeod’s car failed inspection twice, which means car chief Lee Leslie has been ejected from the event and they have lost their pit stall selection.