NASCAR announces new procedures for enforcing penalties
NASCAR has revamped its inspection and penalty procedures for all three of its national series – Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Trucks – and will, whenever possible, enforce penalties at the track during the course of a race weekend.
Car of Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, during inspection
Action Sports Photography
The sanctioning body unveiled its new procedures on Thursday by issuing an update to its rulebooks.
Penalties for less-serious issues, including most violations found during weekend inspections, will be assessed during the course of the weekend and cannot be appealed. They will be assessed by the series director on the basis of severity, timing, and reoccurrence of an infraction.
Those penalties could include loss of practice time, loss of pit selection and/or a driver being forced to perform a pit road pass-thru penalty once the race has gone green.
More serious penalties will be classified as either Level 1 or Level 2 penalties and will be addressed following a race weekend like most issues have been dealt with in the past.
Appeal procedures for the higher level penalties are expected to be addressed in a similar manner as last season.
Examples of Level 1 infractions include failing weight or height measurements, at least three unsecured lug nuts and failure of the Laser Inspection Station. Penalties for those infractions could result in a loss up to 40 points, three-race suspension of team members and a $75,000 fine.
Level 2 infractions, which would involve issues such as traction control and the manipulation of tires, could incur penalties upwards of 75 points, six-race team member suspensions and to a $200,000 fine.
NASCAR also announced the following changes to its weekend inspections:
- Opening race weekend inspection will focus only on fuel systems, engines and safety components.
- Pre-qualifying and pre-race will consist of a full inspection – fuel systems, engines, safety components, chassis, templates, and weights and measurements.
- If a race vehicle fails any station, that car must correct the issue in its garage stall, and return to the first station for a full inspection, regardless of having passed previous inspection stations.
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