Should a team need more than two trips through inspection, the 15-minute penalty is for the next scheduled practice and is not imposed as part of a qualifying session.

With the new 2015 rules package, some teams are struggling to get their car through inspection for the qualifying session – as seen at Atlanta Motor Speedway a couple of weeks ago. When several teams were unable to make through inspection in time to make their qualifying run, Officials delayed the start of qualifying by 15 minutes and even with the extra time, 13 teams were still unable to make it through inspection with time to qualify, including some of the super stars of NASCAR, champions Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.

Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck said, “at least 20” teams needed several trips through inspection before being cleared to qualify – some needing as many as three trips – creating the backlog. That figure, he said, was nearly double what is typical at Atlanta.

For most teams with no issues, timing has not been a problem.  The issue is when multiple cars fail a particular station, resulting in those cars needing to make more trips through the inspection process before being cleared to qualify.

To address concerns, NASCAR made schedule changes for the west coast tracks at Las Vegas last week, Phoenix this week and at Auto Club Speedway next weekend. Opening practice for Sprint Cup teams is now less time by ten minutes to one hour, 15 minutes, while qualifying now takes place five minutes later than originally scheduled. These measures allow teams 50 minutes to present their cars for pre-qualifying inspection after the end of practice.

Apparently, those changes helped, because in Las Vegas last weekend, all teams cleared the inspection in time to make at least one qualifying attempt. The new 15 minute penalty, in theory, should further improve the speed of the inspection process, and in the long run save time for Officials and teams.

The laser inspection process has been in use since the 2013 season. So why were teams having so much trouble passing inspection? Call it adapting to the 2015 new rules package and accepting NASCAR’s new stance in keeping a level playing field.

The laser inspection station platform takes precise measurements of several key points underneath each car such as camber, wheelbase and rear axle positioning. Measurements are precise, and within 1/1,000th of an inch in most cases.

If a team’s car does not pass on an attempt, that team must wait until all cars have made at least one pass through the station before they may go through again. Obviously, if teams get it right the first time, they save themselves and the officials valuable time.

Follow the Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, at 7:50 pm ET Friday, March 13 on FOX Sports 2

Watch the Campingworld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, March 15 on FOX.