The main reason Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team had no issues with inspection on Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, and more specifically the C-Post areas of the car, is because the team brought a completely new car to the track this week.
The car which raised the ire of NASCAR inspectors at Daytona had been run by Johnson in five consecutive superspeedway races, including the 500. The team received stiff penalties by NASCAR for unapproved changes to the C-Post areas, the area of the car from the roof to the top of the rear quarter-panel.
On appeal, most of the penalties were rescinded except for a $100,000 fine to crew chief Chad Knaus and probation for Knaus and car chief Ron Malec.
Johnson's team maintained they did nothing wrong. NASCAR President Mike Helton said he expected his inspectors would confiscate the C-Posts again if the same thing showed up at Talladega.
Instead, the No. 48 team decided to bring a whole new car.
The Daytona 500 car wasn't worth saving as a backup, either. This week's backup chassis for the No. 48 team is No. 482. The car which Johnson used in the previous five plate races was chassis No. 628.
