In a critique of NASCAR’s decision to amend its rule on damaged vehicles with only five races remaining in the season, Chris Gabehart, the crew chief for Denny Hamlin, hasn’t hidden disapproval. During a conversation on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Gabehart questioned the last-minute rule changes. This comes after a meeting held by NASCAR officials aiming to clarify these adjustments to drivers and teams.
Historically, the rule demanded that any car unable to return to its pit box under its own power following an incident was effectively taken out of the race. This policy has been a subject of contention in previous races, affecting drivers such as Josh Berry at Kansas and Ryan Blaney earlier in the season. NASCAR now plans to adopt a more lenient approach, allowing for potentially damaged cars to be towed back to the pits, allowing them to continue to race.
Gabehart did not hold back in his criticism.
“I am a proponent of, vulnerability or not, in the moment, the rule is the rule and in black and white it’s stated that if you can’t drive, if you’re deemed in an incident and you can’t drive back to your pit box you’re out of the race.” He continued:
“No matter, gosh if it’s a 40-car wreck, which it was close to that, we can’t finish the race and boy that’s an unintended consequence. I get it, but from a competitive standpoint, I prefer sticking with the rules.”
From NASCAR’s perspective, the change is a response to the criticism that the rigid rules were eliminating competitors from races even if they could technically continue. By offering teams greater autonomy in assessing and responding to vehicle damage, the organization hopes to maintain competitiveness in the championship’s final stretch.
“So in this meeting, NASCAR wanted to go over, in light of that, they’re wanting to make sure all of the competitors moving forward for the remainder of the year have a clear understanding of what their intent is.
“And their intent is to not put anybody out of the race that doesn’t mistakingly not need to be. So if they misjudge your damage type of thing they don’t want to put it on their officials on the ground, and because of that they want to put it more in our hands.
“So, it sounds like towing cars back to the pit stall is going to be more of a thing a lot like you saw with the 9 and the 14. If the call is on the fence, if the cars can’t move but we’re not sure how bad the damage is, they want to put it back in the team’s hands and give them an opportunity to go out and compete again.
“I don’t want to speak entirely for them on the specifics. I’m sure they’ll do that in the coming days but the just of it is, it sounds like they’re going to loosen up the reins a little bit with five [races] to go.”
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