Win a Chase race and advance to the next round. Right? Wrong.
NASCAR announced changes to its rules for the Chase for the Sprint Cup on Wednesday, taking dead aim at inspection violations. Those include post-race laser examinations and those two dreaded words — lug nuts.
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The announcement came shortly after Chase participant Martin Truex Jr. and his team were penalized for a laser test failure at Richmond. It also signaled something much tougher.
Failure to pass post-race laser examination or being found not to have the proper number of lug nuts will cost race winners plenty. The big problems: 35 penalty points and no automatic pass into the next three-race segment. Teams failing tests would also lose advantages in tiebreakers.
According to NASCAR:
In the Sprint Cup Series, the first violation would result in an encumbered finishing position, the loss of 35 championship driver and owner points, as well as a three-race suspension and $65,000 fine for the crew chief.
That's stiff. The point deduction alone is enough to ensure a car caught in post-race inspections will not advance. The Chase field, set at 16 drivers ahead of this weekend's race at Chicagoland, is reduced by four drivers after each three-race segment. With all teams within 12 points to start the Chase, subtracting 35 would amount to elimination.
NASCAR announcing this rules update bc stripping championship for one lug would be kinda dumb; three missing lugs is blatant/egregious.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 14, 2016
Expect a fair amount of blowback from drivers and teams. Also, expect to see fewer post-race burnouts.
There is one saving grace: Violations that would draw these draconian penalties would be of what NASCAR terms a P4 level. No teams this season have reached a P4.
Post-race lug nut inspection penalties are the same as laser inspection failures, NASCAR said, if a vehicle is found to have 17 or fewer nuts in place after the race.
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"The changes are made to assure that we have a level playing field and make sure that there's not a carrot out there for the team to have excessive violations when it comes to lug nuts and the LIS post-race measurements," Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, told NASCAR.com.
"This is really just a matter of us putting something in place so that should something happen, we have a means to effectively deal with it."
Will all 16 cars in #NASCAR Chase be laser inspected after each race? With such a big penalty that would be only fair way to do it, right?
— RaceTalkRadio NASCAR (@RaceTalkRadio) September 14, 2016
Post-race laser inspections are being criticized, with the argument based on whether cars are able to remain in pre-race condition after the twists, turns and bangs of several hundred miles of competition.
Lug nuts became a major concern this season after Tony Stewart ripped NASCAR for lax enforcement of requirements. Teams were omitting nuts, at times leaving cars with wobbly wheels and the risk of a wheel coming off a car in a race. NASCAR fined Stewart, a driver and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, for public criticism — and then proceeded to implement standards that Stewart advocated.
The teams have forced #NASCAR to react with stronger penalties including not having a win count to move ahead in the Chase - I agree
— Pete Pistone (@PPistone) September 14, 2016
Several teams were punished in lug nut violations after rules were enforced in midseason. Those infractions include a one-race suspension for a car's crew chief and stripping of driver and owner points.
Similar penalties go into effect in the Xfinity Series. There is no laser inspection in the Truck Series. Both subseries enter their first year in the Chase format.
Laser tests began in 2013, and most failures involve cars' rear toe alignment. There is a minimum allowable difference in distance tires can be from their centerpoint, either toward or away from the chassis.
AUDIO: Darrell Waltrip says it's ridiculous to put cars through laser inspection after a race https://t.co/wJs7i7YqEY #TMDNASCAR
— SiriusXM NASCAR (@SiriusXMNASCAR) September 14, 2016
Chase participants and race winners Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson all were flagged for post-race laser inspection failure. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were punished when their cars were found in violation of lug nut rules.
Having one or two loose or missing lug nuts will no longer result in a penalty, NASCAR announced.
"What we proposed here and what we enacted here is a lot more the penalty fitting the crime," Miller said.