With a new car in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR officials have updated the rule book and penalties for violations where the Next Gen car is concerned.
The new car was designed with keeping down some of the costs involved with running a team. But when it comes to violating the new rules, some of the fines have gone up…way up.
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller spoke on the new rules noting that they intend to keep everything above board saying, “ there’s going to have to be a culture shift from the way that the teams and NASCAR, for that matter, have done business.” He added, “if there aren’t penalties for altering parts and pieces on the new car, then the business model with new car won’t work.”
Miller also noted, “if a regular-season violation has playoff ramifications to it, obviously I think the teams will take that much more seriously than they ever did points with the current playoffs and playoff-point format that we have.”
All throughout the history of NASCAR, teams have routinely pushed the limits of the rules and have at times gotten caught. With the new rules, it will be harder for the teams to push those limits.
NASCAR has various levels of penalties form L1 to L3 – the most serious.
L1 penalties include failures in post race inspections, use of unapproved parts, and minimum weight requirements.
Violations of an L1 penalty include points deductions beginning at 20 points, deductions of playoff points, suspension of a crew member, and fines from $25,000 to $100,000.
L2 penalty violations include part modifications, failure to make engine-seal requirements, unapproved alterations of the engine control system, and the use of the unapproved on-board electronics.
Violaton of an L2 rules begin at 75 points, playoff point deductions beginning at 10 points, suspension of crew members, and fines from $100,000 to $250,000.
L3 level penalties include modification or counterfeiting of Next Gen parts, infractions related to the engine, violations of the ECU – Engine Control Unit – or the EFI – Electronic Fuel Injections, modification of tires or fuel, and, modification of the team testing policy.
The penalties for violation of any L3 rules include points deductions beginning at 120 points, deduction of playoff points beginning at 25 points, suspension of crew members, nullifying eligibility for the post season, and in the case of a repeat offender suspension of one race for the team resulting in a DNF with no points for the driver and owner. Fines for violating an L3 penalty begin at $250,000 and can run as high as $500,000.