NASCAR issues rule changes on qualifying, car repairs
NASCAR issued some rule changes on Wednesday affecting Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying and the equipment teams can use to repair cars on pit road.
Crews tape up the cars for Qualifying. Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry FedEx Express and Paul Menard, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford Fusion Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center
Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
Beginning with next week’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Cup series teams will no longer have to start the race on the same tires on which they qualified.
Moving forward, all races will have four sets of tires for practice and qualifying, except superspeedways which will have three sets.
For enhanced schedule weekends, teams will be able to carryover their qualifying set to the race. If they do not have laps on their qualifying set, they must carry over a scuff set from practice.
Last weekend at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson had to start the race from the rear of the field because his team changed tires following qualifying. Larson had spun during qualifying and flat-spotted his tires.
Two additional changes announced on Wednesday:
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Teams may only use traditional battery powered equipment to repair a vehicle on the service side of the pit wall. Traditional battery powered equipment includes, but is not limited to, reciprocating saws, rivet guns, screw guns, and drills. Any other equipment may only be used at the discretion of the series managing director.
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The TV video package for each vehicle will now include an additional (fourth) camera. There will be three standard cameras (roof, driver and rear bumper) and one supplemental camera. The supplemental camera can be front bumper, helmet visor, reverse driver, foot, shifter, 360, gyro or side panning (based on the race weekend).
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