By Jerry Jordan, Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – In an unprecedented, but not unexpected move, NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell and Scott Miller announced the sanctioning body will no longer tolerate cheated-up racecars at the track and if they are caught, the driver/team will be stripped of the win, the points, the money, the trophy
“If you are illegal, then you didn’t win the race,” O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer.
And, the inspection process won’t just be limited to a certain time during the race weekend. No longer, can teams game the system when officials have their backs
“Race vehicles are expected to adhere to the rule book from the opening of the garage to the checkered flag,” he said. That means that NASCAR will send a car through inspection any time it suspects an issue.
O’Donnell said the new rule goes across all three of NASCAR’s top three series and the reaction from the garage has been positive. The idea was to get away from having to deal with the fallout of a car declared “illegal” on a Tuesday following the race but that team, and driver, still getting to keep most of the benefits of the win.
NASCAR will inspect the first- and second-place vehicles, as well as a random vehicle, after each event. That process will take place at the racetrack and will take about 90-minutes, said Miller, vice president of competition. If the winning car fails then the second place car will be moved up to first place followed by all other cars in the field. The winning car will be bumped back to
In the past, the complete post-race inspection process was finalized at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C. Now, only a random car will be brought back for further testing and if there are issues with that car the offending information will be shared with other teams.
“We have to stop this cat and mouse game,” Miller said. “If you bring illegal parts to the track you will be issued an L1 penalty right there at the track.”
Miller said if a car is found with illegal parts prior to the race, those parts will be removed, the team will be hit with the Level 1penalty and the parts will be put on display for other teams to inspect. An L1 penalty calls for a points deduction of between 10 and 40 points and a fine between $25,000 and $75,000.
“Our industry understands the need to focus on what happens on the race track,” O’Donnell said. “We cannot allow inspection and penalties to continue to be a prolonged storyline. Race vehicles are expected to adhere to the rulebook from the opening of the garage to the checkered flag.”
In other news coming out of the meeting, NASCAR will not change qualifying procedures at racetracks and go to single-car qualifying as predicted by multiple teams in the garage. Miller said NASCAR didn’t really consider changing.
“Several teams were talking about it (single-car qualifying) but we weren’t talking about it that much,” Miller said with a smile.
Looking ahead to 2021, O’Donnell confirmed NASCAR is moving forward with its Generation-7 car and speaking with other auto manufacturers looking at joining Ford, Chevrolet
“I think you will see us be much more open,” O’Donnell said, about not being locked-in on sedans vehicles. This was done with the new Supra being fielded in the Xfinity Series by Toyota. “We are not going to make the mistake where we chase new OEMs (like other racing series) with rules that are detrimental with the current partners. We will rely on current OEMs first.”
O’Donnell and Miller agreed that going forward with the Generation-7 car in the Cup Series will “almost certainly” include a composite body but that won’t mean the cars all look alike. This is something the sanctioning body is working with the current OEMs on.
“This car will look cool,” O’Donnell said.