Less than two weeks before the start of the NASCAR season, the sanctioning body announced Wednesday a few of its rules will be tweaked ahead of Speedweeks at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
The biggest tweak came under NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP), a rule that knocked Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Matt Kenseth from contention last fall at Kansas Speedway.
Under last year’s rule, the penalty for a team sending more than six crew members over the wall was an immediate disqualification from the race. Kenseth after getting collected in a late-race accident suffered his championship blow last October after his Joe Gibbs Racing unintentionally sent more than six members over the wall.
The result was an immediate ejection from the race and the end of Kenseth’s second attempt at a Cup Series championship.
In a bulletin issued Wednesday, a revision to the policy now states a team who sends too many crew members over the wall will now be subject to a two-lap penalty but will be able to keep their race car in the event.
In another tweak, the time limit the crew must fix the car has been slightly adjusted from five minutes to six. After six minutes, the car is subjected to be retired under the DVP.
Furthermore, NASCAR announced that the first-round qualifying time has been reduced to 15 minutes on intermediate and short tracks. Previously, teams had 20 minutes to make a qualifying attempt.
Earlier Wednesday, the stage lengths for all three of NASCAR’s National Series were announced with minimal changes. NASCAR, however, did not announce the stage and race length for the highly anticipated Charlotte Road Course event set to run at the end of September.
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