NASCAR has confirmed penalties for two drivers ahead of Sunday's race at Pocono, including reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson.

NASCAR technical inspections take place each weekend at every track, both pre-race and post-race, ensuring all cars are legal and within the rules.

Teams are allowed to fail once, make adjustments, and try again without punishment, but if a team fails tech twice, they receive a mandatory penalty. The punishments get more severe as the failures rack up, but all teams must pass before they are allowed to compete.

Following inspection on Saturday, two teams have fallen foul of the rules and will now pay a price for the remainder of the weekend.

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NASCAR confirms Pocono Cup Series penalty

Larson's No. 5 team and Daniel Dye's No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports team both failed inspection twice on Saturday, putting them both on the back foot going into Sunday's race.

Both teams have lost pit stall selection for the race and had a crew member ejected from the event for the remainder of the weekend – car chief Jesse Saunders on the No. 5, and engineer Chris Stanley on the No. 78.

What is NASCAR tech?

Every weekend, no matter the race, track, or event, NASCAR requires all Cup Series teams to pass inspection before hitting the circuit.

If a team fails tech on the first instance, it must fix the issue and repeat the process all over again until it passes.

If a car fails once, there is no punishment. However, if you fail twice or more, punishments are handed out, such as in the cases above.

According to NASCAR, the point of inspections is to level the sport's playing field as much as possible.

The website also outlines the five stations of a standard inspection, which are as follows:

Station 1: Car is elevated to visually inspect the nose, under the body and inside.

Stations 2-3: Body is visually inspected using a handheld template to ensure the body conforms to regulations.

Station 4: Optical scanning is used to inspect the chassis and body of car.

Station 5: Holding blocks are removed and final safety inspection is done.

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