Lack Of Practice Hurt Many Xfinity Teams

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Last weekend in Daytona the NASCAR Xfinity Series held only one practice at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. That one practice though wasn't even a practice for 14 teams. 14 drivers were held up by NASCAR inspection including Carl Long, Mark Thompson, Derrike Cope, and BJ McLeod. Also on that list included Mike Harmon, Morgan Shepherd, Bobby Gerhart along with 7 other drivers. This is what ultimately caused drivers like Carl Long and Derrike Cope to DNQ the Subway Firecracker 250.
For one driver in that group, extra practice could have aided the team in finding an engine problem before taking the green flag friday night. That driver would be the #78 of BJ McLeod who was only able to run one lap at a track the team could have had much success at. We spoke with BJ McLeod's Crew Chief David Ingram Jr. about the issue with the engine and if practice time would have helped them in any way shape or form find the issue in the engine in time to change it.
"With more laps on the track, it's possible that we would have found an issue with the motor." stated David.
BJ McLeod Motorsports made their NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Daytona in February where he finished 24th. Who could have said with a fresh engine that a best finish could have been on the horizon but would be hindered with engine issues. McLeod is running for the 2016 Sunoco Rookie Of The Year and a 40th place finish at Daytona sure doesn't help BJ get any closer to being the Rookie Of The Year. McLeod will now look to Kentucky to make up lost ground.

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Another Team that had mixed affects of limited practice included Carl Long's team Motorsports Business Management who had two cars entered last weekend at Daytona. One car made the race and did well until engine issues caused the #13 of Mark Thompson to have to leave the race early. Carl was in the other car but along with Derrike Cope and Mike Harmon DNQ'ed. Carl's and Derrike Cope's were all because adjustments needed to be made and with just one lap in Qualifying there wasn't much time to adjust and any adjustment made would be a blind attempt. Carl Long spoke with us in an interview giving us an recap of how he felt his team's weekend went.
"I was dissapointed in no practice time and going straight into qualifying, My Dodge didn't steer correctly (Tow Adjustment), That could have been fixed and The car drug the track slowing the speed which ultimately caused me to miss the race. Secondly I was happy with 13, Something broke in the engine when we were looking like we were gaining on our best finish of year as others crashed out."

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Ultimately these three Underfunded teams were handed the bad side of the stick and it's something that I feel NASCAR should look into and adjust to. These teams are working their absolute hardest each and every week and to just turn around and rob them of one of their best and possibly last shot of the season is just not right. These restrictor plate races are normally level playing grounds but last weekend was certainly far from it. Whether it be adding NASCAR Officials to the Inspection Line or instead of having qualifying during a weekend where all practice's were cancelled or not ran to full capacity we should have a practice session right there and as many of these people we spoke with noted, set the starting lineup by Owner Points. (Koelle,2016)