NSCS: NASCAR To Look Into Nut Issue

Following comments made by Tony Stewart and other competitors, NASCAR stated on Friday at Richmond International Speedway that they will take a look at the current rules surrounding lugnuts.

“Since the drivers are now questioning it, it’s time for us to reevaluate our position and work with the community on looking at possibly different ways to enforce the pit road rules,” Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, said. “The teams are obviously pushing harder than they ever have in this area, and it’s time for us to take a look at it.  But we’ll do that as an industry.  The open dialogue is very good right now between NASCAR and the teams, so we’ll work internally and with them to move forward here.”

Miller stated that NASCAR hadn’t looked at the issue as they’ve had the same rules for the past two seasons and hadn’t seen any concern or trouble to cause them to look into it further.

The rule came about after NASCAR switched to a more technological way of viewing pit road. NASCAR switched to a video system to monitor the happenings of pit road versus having officials in each stall, with cameras and sensors monitoring each stall and the infractions. Lug nuts wasn’t something that could be monitored from a distance, so NASCAR removed the rule of teams having to have all five lug nuts tightened on each wheel before leaving pit road. The rule doesn’t well with Stewart, who expressed his opinion on Wednesday, resulting in a $35,000 fine from NASCAR.

“I guarantee you that envelope is going to keep getting pushed until somebody gets hurt,” he said at a Mobil 1 appearance. “You will not have heard a rant that’s going to be as bad as what’s going to come out of my mouth if a driver gets hurt because of a loose wheel that hurts one of them.”

While discussions have made it seem as there are no rules, Miller was quick to point out hat there are “severe penalties” written in the rulebook if a “wheel actually comes off of the car at any point”. The rules reads that if any wheel calls off “due to improper installation” it is a “mandatory minimum four-race suspension of the crew chief and tire changer and tire carrier of the lost wheel”.

“We do have those rules, and they’ve served us well, but obviously moving forward, the teams are being very aggressive with it, and it’s been brought up as a concern,” he noted. “When any of our competitors raise a concern, it’s time for us to take a little bit harder look at it.”

He also added that through the history of the sport, there’s always been loose wheels and feels it hasn’t risen since the new rules came into effect.