MIAMI (Reuters) - Martin Truex's bid to qualify for the "Chase for the Championship" was severely jolted on Tuesday when NASCAR penalized his team 150 points for bringing an illegal car to Daytona International Speedway last week.

Truex's Chevrolet failed an initial inspection at Daytona when its roof did not comply with the prescribed template and the car was confiscated and taken to NASCAR's research and development centre for further examination.

Car owner Teresa Earnhardt and Truex were respectively docked 150 championship owner points and 150 championship driver points respectively, NASCAR said in a statement.

Truex, who races for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI), dropped four places to 18th in the driver standings, 238 points behind Tony Stewart who occupies the 12th and final qualifying spot for the Chase.

"We are still trying to understand how the car fit our templates multiple times at the shop but we respect NASCAR's determination that one of our cars did not exactly conform to their template at the track," DEI vice president of motorsports operations John Story said in a statement.

"We have not decided if we will pursue our options to appeal. Under NASCAR's rules, we have 10 days to notify the sanctioning body of any appeal."

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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