NASCAR – Overhaul of penalties

After renewal of qualifications, NASCAR announced that it had revised its penalty system for the 2014 season. Previously, there were no specific sanctions for certain rule infractions. Thing is over today. Six levels of penalties have been introduced, each including on-track and especially financial sanctions. Here are the big news for the Sprint Cup, knowing that minor infractions will be punished with simple warnings and do not appear in the rest of this detail.

Level P1: Penalties will be imposed after several warnings for the same team. Sanctions can be last pit choice, less track time in practice and qualifying.

Level P2: This category concerns in particular the installation of components not validated by officials or which are hidden. Cars found in default incur 10 penalty points (driver and owner), $10 to $000 fine, possible suspension of the team leader and other members for one or more events, probation until the end of the calendar year, or for six months, if the infringement occurs at the start of the season.

Level P3: Category of penalties imposed for the use of unauthorized parts. The sanctions remain the same as at the P2 level, but the loss of points will amount to 15 units while the fine can range from 20 to 000 dollars. Up to P50, point, financial and suspension penalties may or may not be cumulative. This remains at the discretion of the officials.

Level P4: Use of parts to circumvent defined models, installation of additional ballast, etc. From this level, sanctions are necessarily cumulative. 25 penalty points (driver and owner), plus $40 to $000 fine, plus crew chief suspended for the next three races counting toward the championship or not. Probation remains the same as for levels P70, P000 and P1. On the other hand, this level of penalty introduces post-race sanctions, including 2 additional points and a $3 fine after the post-race inspection.

Level P5: Interventions on the oil filter or on the air flow. Here the penalties start to climb: 50 penalty points (driver and owner, plus $75 to $000 fine, plus six races of suspension for the team leader or any other sanctioned member. After the inspection of post-race, 125 points (driver and owner) and a fine of $000 may be imposed in addition to the loss of points collected during the race. Suspensions and probations are imposed until the end of the calendar year or for 25 months if the infraction occurs at the beginning of the year for any sanctioned team member.

Level P6: Modifications made to the performance of the engine, certified parts of the chassis, the fuel system, or even traction control. The penalty scale is the highest with 150 penalty points (driver and owner) and a fine ranging from $150 to $000. Suspensions and probations remain the same at level P200. All points obtained during the race may be removed after the post-race inspection.

“It is not our primary intention to penalize, but to maintain a level playing field for everyone, we recognize that strict rules needed to be put in place. » said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president for track operations. “We are confident that we have done a good job governing the sport in the past, but we still believe we can do better for the benefit of all concerned. The new penalty system will be clearer for our competitors in order to better understand the limits and eliminate the few gray areas that have existed. Once again, everything was done as transparently as possible. »