For the first time in decades
of NASCAR racing, crime no longer pays.
NASCAR announced last Monday
that effective immediately, winning cars that fail post-race inspection with a
Level 1 or 2 infraction will be stripped of their victory and placed last in
the finishing order. The offending team will forfeit all points, prize money,
stage points, playoff qualification and other benefits of the win, with the
second-place finisher inheriting the victory.
The announcement ended a
baffling era in the sport’s history where drivers could win with illegal race
cars, but forfeit only a portion of their ill-gotten gains.
“We are changing the focus and
changing the culture,” said NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing
Development Officer Steve O’Donnell. “If you're not legal, you don't win the
race.”
O’Donnell said teams have
known for the last six months that the sanctioning body was moving in this
direction, and that every team owner was in favor.
“We are tired of being the
`We’ll work with you’ guys,” said NASCAR Sr. Vice President of Competition
Scott Miller. “We need for these things to not be a story. We have to stop all
of this.”
Under this new system, the winner,
second-place finisher and a random car will undergo a 90-minute, post-race NASCAR
inspection at the track, rather than being taken to the NASCAR R&D Center
as in past seasons. When found to be in violation of the rules, the offending team
will be sanctioned on the spot, eliminating the need for additional mid-week penalties.
NASCAR also said that crew chief and car chief suspensions will be unlikely,
going forward.
Very few drivers commented
publicly on NASCAR’s announcement prior to their arrival in Daytona Beach, but a
handful of crew chiefs spoke in favor of the change.
 |
| Childers: "I'm in favor." |
“I’m in favor of it,” said
Stewart Haas Racing crew chief Rodney Childers, who was suspended by NASCAR for
an illegal rear spoiler on driver Kevin Harvick’s Ford late last season. “If I
know for sure that nobody else is working outside the rules, I don’t have to do
it, either.”
Whether or not NASCAR is
required to overturn a victory this season, the mere threat will hopefully be sufficient
to change the culture of the sport. No longer will NASCAR be known as the sport
where everybody cheats and nobody cares. No longer will we be forced to explain
to casual and non-fans how a competitor can drive a blatantly illegal race car
to Victory Lane, then keep the win. We will also no longer spend Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday on pins and needles, waiting for the weekly round of
penalty announcements that – more often than not – eclipsed the weekend’s
racing as the number-one topic of water cooler conversation.
Last week’s announcement marks
the end of a policy first implemented by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. in the
early 1950s. At that time, France believed that fans should leave the track
knowing who won the race, no matter what might occur in the post-race tech line.
In today’s internet-based world, however, information travels at the speed of
light, allowing fans to learn of post-race technical violations before making
it to their cars in the speedway parking lot.
NASCAR’s “no DSQ” policy was
an outdated relic from a day gone by, and made NASCAR the only motorsports
sanctioning body on the planet unable to inspect its cars in a timely fashion,
and unwilling to invoke a competitive death penalty on those who break the
rules.
“Inspection is going to be
open all the time,” promised NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott
Miller last week. “We will be inspecting cars all the time, (not) just during
the official inspections. When we find something wrong… if you bring
illegal parts and we make you take them off, you’re going to be issued an L1
penalty right there at the race track.
“We have to stop this. We
tried to do it a little softer, but it didn’t work. So we’re going to try a new
approach. You can’t unload your car with illegal stuff on it – period.”
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