When over half the sphere crashed close to the tip of Talladega’s 500-mile occasion, a number of vehicles have been left stranded regardless of sustaining minimal injury. Stationary burnouts and arguments with monitor employees ensued as drivers have been determined to stay within the race. For the a number of playoff drivers concerned, there was an added sense of urgency. Chase Briscoe was truly advised to place his hand over the latch if monitor employees tried to decrease the window internet. Speaking instantly after the race, Joey Logano, pissed off after his day ended when he was collected within the wreck shared that it was a catastrophe.
“Everyone seems to be simply sitting on flat tires. They wish to roll, however they cannot as a result of they’re on flat tires. We bought this machine that is going to jack up the again of the automobile however in case you’re flat on the fronts, you continue to cannot steer.”
Of their respective podcasts, Kevin Harvick described it as a ‘s***present’ whereas Denny Hamlin went so far as to name it a ‘sham.’
So, what’s happening right here? There’s a couple of overlapping elements at work right here. First, there’s NASCAR’s broken car coverage, or DVP. It was initially launched to stop vehicles from going again onto the monitor after they actually shouldn’t be there, in hopes to maintain vehicles which can be off-pace from re-entering. Groups are then allotted a restricted period of time to make repairs within the pits. After racing towards the clock, their broken automobile should go and meet minimal velocity on-track, or the automobile can now not race. If a driver is concerned in a wreck and goes straight to the storage, their race is over as nicely. Gone are the times of drivers lapping the monitor 200 laps down and with half a automobile.
Flat tires = race over?
The place issues get murky is when the issue of flat tires rears its rubber head. The present technology of Cup vehicles would not have internal liners (primarily a tire inside a tire), which is a significant departure from its predecessors. It’s now fairly widespread to see a automobile spin after which turn into stranded regardless of struggling no injury in any respect. This has been a difficulty because the automobile’s introduction in the beginning of the 2022 season.
NASCAR has tried to be accommodating and is prepared to provide vehicles a push to allow them to get again rolling and make it into the pits. However typically, that is not sufficient and the vehicles stay caught. So here is the conundrum: When vehicles can not proceed on their very own after being concerned in a wreck, their race is meant to be over. However what if the one cause they cannot transfer is due to flat tires? Principally clear vehicles that may nonetheless compete are being pulled out of races, merely resulting from flat tires.
Taking a look at a current instance, Josh Berry spun in a multi-car wreck on the primary lap at Kansas and was unable to roll on his personal. The automobile appeared okay, however the tires have been flat. Regardless of protests from the motive force and crew chief Rodney Childers, the principally undamaged No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was towed behind the wall — ending his race.
And there are such a lot of different moments the place drivers, groups, and even NASCAR appeared uncertain of what to do. Throughout apply for the Cup race at Iowa, your complete session was halted for an prolonged time period resulting from Ross Chastain’s easy spin. Fearing injury to the automobile, particularly to the very delicate diffuser space, Chastain didn’t try and drive it again. NASCAR ended up lifting the automobile totally into the air with two vehicles after which positioned it on a dolly to be wheeled again. All that for a single-car spin with flat tires. And clearly, that’s simply not possible throughout a race.
That brings us to the air jack lifter system. This previous summer season, NASCAR began permitting groups to put in this method within the rear of their vehicles in order that when an incident happens, security employees can simply plug in an air compressor and get the automobile off the bottom. However as Logano identified, it didn’t appear to assist a lot at Talladega.
A mid-race change in rule enforcement
After the pink flag was waved at Talladega, NASCAR went towards current precedent and towed broken vehicles again to the pits, giving groups the possibility to work on them. The sudden change raised eyebrows and induced frustration all through the paddock, as each level issues within the midst of the 2024 playoff combat.
NASCAR tried to clear the air post-race with VP of competitors Elton Sawyer explaining that the sanctioning physique selected to deal with issues otherwise following the Berry incident at Kansas.
“On the heels of final week at Kansas, you understand our purpose was by no means to place good vehicles out of the race,” mentioned Sawyer. “Final week, as we bought taking a look at that, digesting it, we might inform that perhaps we must always have made a special name final week. In order we went into Talladega, we wished to be sure that we erred on the aspect of the rivals. We didn’t anticipate seeing 25+ vehicles down there … That is why we made the choice to tow the 2 to pit highway that we did. The No. 9 [Chase Elliott] and No. 14 [Chase Briscoe] – each of these vehicles met minimal velocity so we felt like that was the suitable name to make.”
Sawyer went on to say that NASCAR officers “will take a a lot deeper dive into this within the low season.”
There’s only one drawback with all of that. In keeping with Hamlin on his weekly podcast, Actions Detrimental, NASCAR by no means knowledgeable the drivers or groups that they have been altering how the rule can be enforced at Talladega.
John Hunter Nemechek, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, GearWrench Toyota Camry
Photograph by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Photos
Across the 33-minute mark, he declared: “They didn’t notify any of the groups of that,” later including: “You made a rule, follow the rule … You may’t change it now as a result of different individuals’s seasons have been determined by this rule in a technique, form or type. You may’t change it in the midst of your playoffs. You may’t change your mindset in the midst of the playoffs.”
However that is precisely what they did. Truthful or not, it was a big change in how others have been handled in previous weeks and that is clearly problematic. NASCAR now seems prepared to tow vehicles again to the pits when this case arises, however who makes the decision on if that ought to occur or not? When is there an excessive amount of injury? Will playoff vehicles be handled otherwise? Will the race be halted whereas the vehicles are being towed? It is all very complicated and one thing that’s nowhere close to being solved.
