NASCAR Announces New Rule Changes for 2023 Season

It was a busy day for NASCAR as they gear up for the 2023 season that kicks off this weekend at the LA Memorial Coliseum. One of the most notable changes revolves around the high-profile move that Ross Chastain made last season at Martinsville. The series has banned the wall-riding maneuver that Chastain used on the final lap of the race to sneak his way into the Championship 4.

The move will be illegal at all tracks, which was made because of safety considerations. The move, which sent shockwaves around the world, was view more than 100 million times across social media. Any driver that tries this type of move in the future will be given a time penalty, according to the new rule.

Another hot topic last season was the idea of doing away with stage breaks, to keep the momentum and excitement of the race alive. The series has decided to eliminate stage breaks at all six road course events this season. The race will not stop once a stage ends, but points will still be awarded to the drivers running inside the top-ten.

“When we introduced stage racing four or five years ago, we took an element of strategy away from the event [at road courses],” said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition. “So we felt like this is going to bring some new storylines.” Pit road will no longer close with two laps to go and no free passes will be given out.

There is a new wet weather package that will be utilized at short oval tracks. That package includes a windshield wiper and wet weather tires, which teams have used on road courses in the past. "Our goal here is to get back to racing as soon as possible," said senior VP of competition Elton Sawyer. "If there’s an opportunity for us to get some cars or trucks on the racetrack and speed up the track-drying process and we can get back to racing, that’s what our goal is."

NASCAR has also updated the penalty for a wheel coming off a car during the race. Last season, the crew chief and two pit crew members were given an automatic four-race suspension. The new rule states that if a wheel comes off a car while the vehicle is still on pit road, the vehicle restarts at the tail end of the field. If it happens while it is on pit road under green-flag conditions, it is a pass-through penalty. Any vehicle that loses a wheel on the track will be penalized two laps and have two pit crew members suspended for two races.

One small change is that the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock was increased by one minute. Teams will now have 7 minutes to repair their car on pit road, or be eliminated from the race. The requirement that a driver must finish inside the top 30 in points at the end of the regular season to be eligible for the playoffs has been removed as well.

Finally, the "choose rule" where drivers can choose which lane they prefer to restart the race in will now be in effect for superspeedway and dirt races. The restart zone will also be extended, and the series will evaluate if further changes need to be made after the first five races of the season.