Michael Waltrip could miss his first Daytona 500 in 21 years, he has to run 1st or 2nd in the cars who aren’t already in the Daytona 500, those outside the top 35 in points from last year, to make the race, and with Juan Montoya and David Gilliland qualifying so well today, Gilliland had the pole and Juan Montoya qualified 4th, that could be a tall order for Waltrip whose time of 24th is still good, for the moment. Nascar found a substance inside the manifold, a substance that Michael said was oil, so they confiscated the manifold. Later, they put another on the car, as the one had been shipped to Concord, NC for inspection, and qualified 24th, and then, Nascar kept the car and a second manifold. As of now, the 24th qualifying spot is still good, until they figure out what the substance is.

Before qualifying began NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton said an inspector in NASCAR’s engine checking area “caught a substance inside” Waltrip’s No. 55 Toyota Camry’s manifold in its initial pass through inspection.

Also running afoul of NASCAR inspectors were Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne, whose qualifying speeds were disallowed due to infractions discovered in post-qualifying inspection.

Hunter said any penalties or sanctions for anyone related to the three infractions would be announced later in the coming week, including “monetary fines, points penalties or suspensions.” Source: Waltrip’s car, manifold confiscated at quals

A noted engine builder, they would not give his name, said it wasn’t possible for lubricating oil to leak into the engine’s manifold, under normal conditions that is. Waltrip and others continued to say they did not know why the oil was in those spots and didn’t know what Nascar was doing with the car exactly.

Looks like Kenseth and Kahne will start in the back in the second qualifier, and it seems they are in no more trouble, other than the possibility of some upcoming fines.