Eleven cars fail NASCAR Cup inspections before Kansas qualifying

Only 28 cars took part in the session, with Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Erik Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr, David Ragan, Landon Cassill, Reed Sorenson, Corey LaJoie, Timmy Hill and Carl Long all missing out due to failed inspections, while Michael McDowell was ruled out with engine trouble.

NASCAR mandates that all cars must pass a four-stage inspection before taking part in qualifying, and if a car fails one of those parts it has to pass through all four stages again.

"It's fairly disappointing that they can't present their cars to pass inspection," NASCAR vice president of competition Scott Miller said.

"It's the LIS [Laser Inspection Station], where we measure the rear steer of the car, which is a big performance metric.

"They obviously pushed the limit a little too much today, and a lot of cars didn't pass.

"There were 28 cars that did pass inspection, so it's certainly possible to get it right."

Bowyer was one of the most frustrated drivers, while Hendrick Motorsports pair Johnson and Earnhardt Jr, who along with team-mate Kahne failed to make it through, were more relaxed.

"You are off ten-thousandths of an inch - it is ridiculous," said Bowyer.

"I get it. If you are off, you are off, but I watched my guys move the car and adjust the car accordingly for it and then actually overcompensate on it because we were worried about not making it.

"Then they wheel it back in and fail the exact same amount? Twice? That makes no sense."

Earnhardt said his team found it confusing as his car had passed the same tests during practice, while Johnson joked that he's "not the best at qualifying anyway, so this takes all the pressure off".

Of the 28 cars that did run in qualifying, Ryan Blaney edged Joey Logano to take his maiden Cup series pole, and the first for his Wood Brothers team since 2004.