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France says NASCAR open to Chase spot for Busch: NASCAR chairman Brian France isn't sure if Kyle Busch will be granted a waiver to be part of the championship chase when he returns from injury, but said Thursday the sanctioning body would like to "accommodate" him. He'll miss his ninth race this weekend at Richmond International Raceway, but has indicated he'll return to racing this season. The only way he'd be eligible to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is if NASCAR grants him a waiver, and he wins a race that would qualify him for the 16-driver field. He'd also have to be inside the top 30 in points. Those are the rules under a Chase system France altered last year. It gives him more flexibility to grant exemptions to drivers who miss races. "Depends on when he comes back of course, but it'll be more likely than not that we're going to try to figure out how to accommodate him, which is the beauty of our playoff system," France said Thursday during a meeting of The Associated Press Sports Editors at the NASCAR offices in Manhattan. "What happened to him was on us," he said. "We'll balance a lot of things at that point when we have to make a decision, but we're inclined to want to figure that out for sure."(Associated Press)(4-23-2015)

NASCAR issues memo about inspection process: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck was expected to send a memo to teams by Thursday that formalized penalties for failing to pass inspection at the start of the race weekend, before qualifying and before the race. In a draft of the memo acquired by NBC Sports, Buck wrote to teams: "Based on the data that we have collected thus far in 2015, we have identified several trends. One trend in particular highlights the failure rate during inspections. In an effort to ensure all competitors an equal and fair opportunity to participate, we will be implementing the following:"
All cars must pass initial inspection and receive a final sticker to be eligible to practice.
Cars that fail qualifying inspection twice will receive a written warning.
Cars that fail qualifying inspection three times also will be penalized 15 minutes of practice time at the next event.
Cars that fail pre-race inspection twice will receive a written warning.
Cars that fail pre-race inspection three times also will be penalized 15 minutes of practice time at the next event.
Buck wrote in the memo: "Based on the above, there WOULD HAVE BEEN 9 written warnings issued at Bristol and an additional 3 competitors that would have received time penalties." NASCAR's rule book states that multiple warnings to the same member or team can lead to a P1 penalty.(NBC Sports)(4-23-2015)