NASCAR Announces New Damage Policy - Simplified

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NASCAR has revealed a new damage policy that will be seen in the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It is receiving mixed reactions amongst the fans which is how much of the change has been taken this season. This change will make for possibly less debris cautions which we have been hearing fans complain about for the last few seasons and will also make things interesting for some new faces who could benefit from this new rule. The Motorsports News Source tries to go through NASCAR's release and simplify it for the fans so that it can be more understandable and you don't enter the season blind. This change joins the new format change along with a new aero-package for the season. Here is the New Damage Policy - Simplified.

Q- What Happens if someone gains so much damage they have to go behind the wall? 

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A - Should a driver be involved in a big crash at Daytona or Talladega or be involved in an incident at any other track and it forces that driver behind the wall, then that driver is officially out of the race. This part of the rule will ultimately eliminate points riding which is where a driver drives with a badly damaged car that has bare bond that could send a piece of sheet metal onto the track which creates an unsafe environment for cars who are still competing for the victory. This should also help rid NASCAR of the Debris cautions because of the fact that there shouldn't be debris from cars or trucks who have minimal to no damage on the car.

Q - What happens if a driver sustains minor damage in a crash?

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A - Should a driver have minor damage and have to come down pit road to fix his car, he has five minutes from the moment he passes the yellow line that marks the entrance to pit road to when he/she passes the yellow line at the end of pit road. These fixes would be like say for example Brad Keselowski makes contact with Daniel Suarez causing him to lose a piece of quarter panel, Suarez can pit to replace the quarter panel with a piece of sheet metal and some bare-bond, but the team has to be in a hurry to repair that piece because they only have 5 minutes from when he crosses the first yellow line at the pit road entrance to when he crosses the yellow line at the pit exit. Should the repair take more than 5 minutes that driver must go behind the wall and face the penalty of going behind the wall which results in a DNF. The Car must maintain the minimum speed limit on track or else get sent to the garage.

Q - What about electrical or mechanical repairs? 

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A - Should a driver have an electrical issue, NASCAR will not tell a driver that he is out of the race if he has a electrical problem or a parts failure. 

"We're not going to tell a guy who breaks his transmission at Watkins Glen or Pocono, for instance, and coasts into the garage area that he's out," Scott Miller said. "Because that doesn't create an unsafe situation; that is a mechanical failure."

An example of this would be Jimmie Johnson's part failure at Dover in 2015 that ultimately led to his elimination from the Chase. With the new policy, This will not change because as Scott Miller said above.