NASCAR Outlaws Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” Move and Introduces New Rule Changes
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NASCAR has announced several procedural changes for the 2023 season, including the outlawing of Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville Speedway.
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NASCAR officials will now have the option to impose a time penalty on any vehicle that uses a similar strategy.
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Safety remains a top priority for NASCAR, and the violation of any rules deemed to compromise safety will be handled with the utmost seriousness.
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Other changes include the elimination of stage cautions on road courses,
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while standalone Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series races will continue to have stage cautions.
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Detached wheels during races will no longer result in a four-race crew chief suspension. Instead,
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the offending car will face a pass-through penalty if the wheel stays on pit road,
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or a two-lap penalty and two-race suspension for two crew members if the tire does not remain on pit road.
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NASCAR has also expanded the list of tracks requiring wet-weather equipment, adding tracks of 1 mile in length or shorter such as Martinsville Speedway,
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Phoenix Raceway, and Richmond Raceway. The “choose rule” for restart order will now include superspeedways and dirt tracks,
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while the restart zone for the first five events of the season will be extended by 50% in length.
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NASCAR has also increased the repair clock to seven minutes for work done on pit road under the damaged vehicle policy (DVP).
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These rule changes will take effect at the start of NASCAR’s 75th season of competition,
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which kicks off on February 5 with the Busch Light Clash non-points race at the L.A. Coliseum.