NASCAR announced an update to its rule book on Thursday that modifies the sport's appeals process, giving the sanctioning body power back from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel after recent controversies over removed elements of standing penalties. The rule change updates language in Section 10.5.2 of the rule book.
The NASCAR rule book now states that the National Motorsports Appeals Panel and its final appeals officer "may not completely strike any element of an originally assessed penalty," meaning that while the appeals panel can adjust a penalty, modifications must be limited to the minimum and maximum ranges outlined in the rule book.
For instance, if a penalty includes points deductions, fines and suspensions, the appeals panel must uphold all three of those elements if the panel rules that the offending party violated NASCAR rules. All elements of a penalty can still be removed in the event that a penalty is overturned outright.
The rule change comes as a direct reaction to the appeals panel's recent removal of all points penalties to Hendrick Motorsports for illegal hood louvers at Phoenix Raceway, despite the panel ruling that Hendrick had violated NASCAR rules. The ruling was publicly not to NASCAR's liking, as stiff points penalties are meant to mark a major deterrent to teams as the sanctioning body tries to prevent them from modifying single-source supplied parts for the Next Gen car.
"I think we always have put the rules in place to be transparent and consistent across the board," NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O'Donnell told NASCAR.com. "So our penalties have been consistent, we've issued consistent penalties. We were surprised, as I think a lot of the fans, were in the ruling, particularly on the Hendrick [appeal] taking away all points. So we recognize that our system had a flaw. And if someone was found to have violated the rule, we've stated that we were all about a culture change in the garage with this new car, and points need to be part of any penalty going forward."
The sanctioning body has also taken action in the interest of transparency. The rule book now specifies that the sanctioning body has the right to publish the reasoning from the appeals panel or final appeals officer on modifying or overturning a penalty. In addition, NASCAR will now resume the longtime practice of displaying unapproved or confiscated parts and pieces in the garage area for other teams to see and inspect.
It was also noted that NASCAR's process for selecting members of the appeals panel -- a rotation of three members selected from an industry pool -- may also be evaluated moving forward.
Earlier this week, the appeals panel made two different rulings that were more in line with other penalties that had been assessed in the fallout from Phoenix. The appeals panel upheld a penalty to Kaulig Racing's No. 31 team for illegally modified hood louvers, only reducing the points penalty from 100 to 75 points. The panel also outright upheld a 25-point, $50,000 penalty to Denny Hamlin for admitting on a podcast that he intentionally put Ross Chastain in the wall late in the race.
