It was less than smooth sailing for the four Hendricks Motorsports cars during the inspection process at Phoenix Raceway on Friday.

Seeing something they felt needed further inspection, NASCAR Competition officials confiscated the hood louvers from all four of the HMS cars – the number nine driven by Josh Berry while Chase Elliott recovers, the number 24 car driven by William Byron, the number 48 car driven by Alex Bowman, and the number 88, and the number five car driven by Kyle Larson.

The confiscated louvers will be taken to the NASCAR Research and Development center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.

However, the teams were permitted to use the confiscated louvers during practice before having them taken away.  The teams were allowed to replace the confiscated parts.

At the moment, none of the HMS cars or car owner Rick Hendrick were assessed a penalty.  Should any penalty be announced, it would come next week after officials examined the louvers.

Hood louvers are used as vents to help keep the engines from overheating.

The HMS drivers ranged from Kyle Larson leading practice to Josh Berry in 23rd place.

This weekend is the first race the Cup Series will run with the new rules package that is designed to lower the downforce in the cars – something the drivers have been asking for.