Harvick’s actions raised the eyebrows of his competitors when the subject was first broached last fall.
“The winner is the only one that’s able to damage his car after the race without it being too obvious,’’ Hamlin said last October. “Nothing we do is without merit. We all know what we’re doing. It’s a tough balance because NASCAR wants you to celebrate, but as drivers we know when a tire is about to blow and sometimes we continue to put the throttle to it.’’
NASCAR, however, said they saw nothing wrong with what happened and wouldn’t look into the issue of policing what they saw during the celebrations. The car passed post-race inspection, as well as its trip to the NASCAR R&D Center.
So what’s the issue?
Teams want to push the issue to it’s absolute breaking point and they don’t want to get caught while doing so for fear of being penalized following the race. Even if the car passes pre-race laser inspection, there is still a chance a modification could be made to the car mid-race or that something could move out of alignment due to the G-forces exerted on the parts during competition.
While it may seem funny to the casual or average fan that a driver just blew the side of his car to smithereens, it sends a message. That message says that teams know NASCAR can’t really fail the winner in post race inspection if the part in question is no longer there due to damage.
When the race concludes NASCAR considers the cars to be impounded. That means the teams cannot modify the car in any way to conform to the specifications if they went out of their way to break it during the race.
So why not have the driver take care of whatever issue they may seem to face with a excessive burnout?
Turning back to this past Sunday, Hamlin made sure to leave his mark on his car and on the track with a massive burnout — the type that NHRA legend John Force became so synonymous with through his 16 championships. Hamlin screamed the car all the way down the entire front straightaway headed into the runoff area of turn 1, where he continued to celebrate with even more doughnuts and large plumes of white smoke.
To paraphrase what SiriusXM NASCAR Radio personality Dave Moody said regarding this issue, “That’s like winning the Kentucky Derby and then shooting Secretariat right after the race.”
On Tuesday morning, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell joined SiriusXM and said that in light of Sunday’s post race festivities at WGI, changes could be coming to limit how extreme post-race celebrations can be.
“It’s a trend we don’t like to see.” O’Donnell said. “We want to see a celebration, and we think that drivers can celebrate without doing that. So, you’ll probably see us sooner than later put something in place that covers us for that as you kind of head into the last quarter of the season.”
He then added that nothing is 100 percent in concrete, but it’s an issue that’s certainly on NASCAR’s radar.
“We’re talking to a lot of the teams about it, but I think everybody is on board with the direction we want to go in.’’
With the Chase only four races away and with so much at stake, NASCAR wants to limit how excessive these celebrations can get.
Now, keep in mind, that doesn’t mean they completely want to get rid of them. For a sport as individualistic as it is. NASCAR doesn’t want to turn into what the NFL has become, where every celebration is too excessive and warrants a penalty. They want the drivers and his or her fans to want to show passion and joy of victory without penalty. They encourage celebration, just as long as the bodywork is not affected.
In the NASCAR Rulebook; Section 8.5.2.1.c in the Sprint Cup Rule Book states that “the first-place vehicle may engage in appropriate celebratory activity (such as a victory lap, burn-out(s) or donuts) prior to reporting to victory circle.’’
“However, the car must not be altered or adjusted in any manner during the cool-down lap or on pit road prior to reporting to the inspection area(s).”
Because of the impound rule, the tight competition and the possibility of someone dipping into gray areas that NASCAR doesn’t want dipped into, that word “appropriate” means so much right now.
All series officials want is for everyone to have an equal playing field — nothing more and nothing less, and with no games of cards being played where someone is hiding the ace up their sleeve.
At the end of the day, it’s a subtle reminder that being loud and smoking it up is still good … but just like everything else that is good, please smoke in moderation.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, Speed77 Radio, the Performance Motorsports Network, their sponsors or other contributors.
About the Writer
Rence Brown is Race Chaser Online’s West Coast-based correspondent, who currently resides in California and carries a deep passion for NASCAR, but is a follower of multiple forms of auto racing across multiple disciplines.
Brown, 23, is going back to school to pursue a journalism degree at Pierce College.
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Email Rence at: rencebrown@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @RenceTheFence
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
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