Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
The most necessary message amongst NASCAR’s rule modifications final week was this: Don’t deliberately dump one other driver on objective, or the results might derail your season.
NASCAR hasn’t stated it outright, however its new waiver guidelines definitely point out so.
NASCAR introduced that any waiver to stay playoff eligible whereas lacking a race was issued attributable to a driver’s absence for non-medical causes (or household emergency) would consequence within the driver forfeiting all playoff factors earned in the course of the common season.
This signifies that a driver who advances to the playoffs would have his factors reset to 2000 with no playoff factors added. If the driving force makes it to the following spherical, it might be 3000 plus solely the playoff factors earned within the earlier spherical.
It’s an incredible success for a second of indiscretion if a driver does one thing so egregious on the observe (or doubtlessly off the observe) that NASCAR feels it ought to bench him.
This would require NASCAR to deal with these conditions with just a little extra nuance as a suspension now carries extra weight than previously. And it was wanted. Should it devastate a driver’s championship probabilities? Perhaps. This will probably be a superb check to see if it can dissuade any drivers from hooking one other on the observe.
The rule would additionally affect Kyle Larson in his Indy 500 try. If he hadn’t returned to begin the Cup race at Charlotte, he would have misplaced all playoff factors. This definitely hurts drivers hoping to make the double, one thing NASCAR ought to embrace, but it surely was apparent final 12 months that NASCAR for some cause would not need to take a backseat. It’s disappointing as a result of the potential acquire in curiosity generated by a high driver seeking to compete in each IndyAutomotive and NASCAR on the identical day ought to make opting out with out penalties a no brainer.
The ironic half? Another NASCAR rule is designed to embrace drivers from different collection (so long as they do not miss a race in their very own collection) as NASCAR will enable a Forty first-place end in races, if needed, to a world-class driver from one other collection to make the sphere for a race if the driving force doesn’t qualify naturally.
This means Helio Castroneves will compete within the Daytona 500. He will need to make it naturally as a result of qualifying means Trackhouse would get the purse cash. If a staff is given Forty first place if it would not qualify for the race with a high driver from one other collection, it will not get the {dollars}.
This rule may detract from the driving force’s participation within the race, but it surely attracts consideration. It additionally units up a mechanism in order that when NASCAR competes internationally, like this 12 months in Mexico City, a high driver from that nation may very well be assured a spot to compete.
Whether or not it’s a necessity is debatable and definitely wasn’t one thing individuals had been clamoring for – so for these questioning why do it, these questions are legitimate – but when this finally places extra of a highlight on the game, that is effective.
The one factor it hopefully would not do is create pointless controversy, which is what the politics of broken automobiles appeared to do, particularly within the period of Next Gen automobiles and particularly final season.
With the brand new guidelines, NASCAR has established procedures so groups can now work on automobiles in a delegated space within the storage. With the Next Gen automotive, there’s much less to weld and work on, so possibly there’s not as a lot want to fret about groups spending an hour engaged on a automotive after which placing one other automobile on the observe once more severely broken. The new guidelines additionally take the query of whether or not towing to the storage might finish a driver’s day trip of NASCAR’s palms.
Just like each time NASCAR makes a rule, there are questions of unintended penalties. Will a suspended driver who qualifies for the playoffs race with a unique method realizing there aren’t any playoff factors within the standings? Will there be a flurry of groups and drivers making an attempt to get provisional designation for a world-class expertise who is not a full-time NASCAR driver? Will wrecked automobiles that beforehand would have been sidelined by the broken automobile coverage now return to the observe and create warning?
It’s all doable. For higher or worse, although? It appears that usually these rule modifications are constructive.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He spent a long time protecting motorsports, together with greater than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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