After the second Duel Race at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday night, open car driver Anthony Alfredo was named the final driver to make the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
But after post race inspection found two hoses improperly secured, Alfredo was disqualified from the race and will miss the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row.
BJ McLeod has been named the driver to move on from Duel Race number two.
Cup Series managing director Brad Moran explains, “we have a hose that comes from the right-side quarter window and is supposed to go into the transaxle cooler. It needs to be airtight and properly fastened. As you all know, we have many rules stating that no parts can fall off the car, for obvious reasons. We don’t determine intent, but the parts must be secured properly, and unfortunately, this one wasn’t.”
Further inspection also found the hose that is involved with the driver’s cooling system was disconnected.
Moran said, “there was also another hose disconnected for driver cooling, which affects airflow at a superspeedway. We all understand the importance of that. It’s unfortunate this happened during the qualifying race, which we consider qualifying per our rule book.”
Since the Duel races are a part of the qualifying process for the Daytona 500, the rules regarding qualifying for races applied to Alfredo’s inspection issues.
Had Alfredo been a Cup Series regular, he would have been relegated to the back of the field, but as one of six drivers vying for two spots, a move to the back of the field put him out of the race.
FOX Sports reporter Bob Pockrass inquired as to whether the hoses were secured prior to the race and Moran noted that the car had cleared the pre-race inspection process; saying “every car is inspected. We conduct safety inspections, check the inside and outside of the car, the windows, the tightness, and the tires. This certainly wasn’t sitting on the passenger floor when the car went through inspection.”
Moran noted they don’t know when the hoses were detached saying, “as far as whether we know how it came off, no. After every 500-mile race, and really any race, all hoses are checked. Brake hoses, transaxle hoses, driver cooling hoses. If anything like this is found during the season, it would be a disqualification.”
He added, “we’ve been consistent with that and always will be, because there are reasons why something like this could come loose or fall off.”