What’s Happening?
NASCAR made a couple of minor rules changes on Wednesday as highlighted by Bob Pockrass on Twitter. One subjects at-track penalties to review for a potential further penalty should NASCAR deem it necessary. The other allows a crew member to take off a glove to remove a windshield tear-off or other “non-routine” repairs but must keep the glove on otherwise.
- It’s not uncommon for NASCAR to further penalize at-track incidents after the fact. One such example came at Atlanta when NASCAR penalized Joey Logano before the race for using an illegal webbed glove during qualifying. He was penalized before the race by dropping to the rear and taking a pass-through penalty on lap one, and he was later fined for the safety violation later in the week.
- Pit gloves are used for multiple reasons. Some of them are as simple as giving crew members a better grip on the tools for a pit stop, but also for use to protect crew members from fire. This new rule mandates gloves for most pit stop instances except windshield tear-offs and “non-routine” repairs.
- Fans are always curious about new rule changes. They often have impacts on how the race plays out.