NASCAR makes rule change over driver weight in middle of season
NASCAR has made changes to its rules over driver weight mid-season as the governing body looks to clamp down on teams.
NASCAR has modified its rule book on vehicle weight mid-season, adding more routine weigh-ins to procedures. The decision to add more controlled measures over driver weight comes after an action-packed weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which saw Ross Chastain win from last place.
NASCAR will weigh drivers before the season to assess a driver baseline. Then, competitors will be put into a weight bracket that will be used to determine overall acceptable vehicle weight to avoid penalties or disqualifications.
"The governing body's latest move for regular weigh-ins is also designed to stomp out teams that potentially intentionally add body weight during the season, providing an advantage over the rest of the field. "A driver's weight will be rounded to one digit to the right of the decimal and then rounded to the nearest whole number to establish their driver weight bracket," the updated NASCAR rulebook reads. "A driver will be allotted +/- 3% of their baseline weight during reweighs.
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"This tolerance will be calculated using the same rounding technique as used for their weight bracket. If a driver's weight falls outside of this tolerance and changes their baseline weight bracket, a new baseline driver weight bracket will be established."
The most recent example of a car failing the minimum weight requirement is Sammy Smith after last Saturday's BetMGM 300. Smith was disqualified for failing to meet minimum weight in a post-race inspection after finishing the race in fifth.
The Xfinity driver had a shot at winning the race, running in the top five, for NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports. In the end, William Byron took the chequered flag, and he nearly did the same in the Cup Series, only to be pipped by Chastain late on.
Byron had run-ins with defending champion Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, which helped Chastain catch the Hendrick Motorsports star and win after starting Sunday's race from last. Chastain, an eighth-generation watermelon farmer turned professional, celebrated his Coca-Cola 600 win with a slice of the fruit in hand.
"This thing is fresh from Florida," Chastain said with a laugh. "It just came up from our family farm. Man, for the Florida watermelon industry, that's your watermelons you're getting right now, so y'all better go buy a dang watermelon to celebrate.
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"I want to see videos of smashed watermelons flood the socials. I want to see it. Florida watermelons are in season."
Chastain started from last after crashing in practice on Saturday. His crew worked hard to put the car back together, which later made its way to Victory Lane.
"To drive on that final run in the 600 and pass two cars that had been better than me all night, wow," Chastain said. "Holy cow! We just won the 600."
"We thought we were going to have to fix the primary and NASCAR said, no, there is something bent [so] go build another one," Chastain added. "That's how we did that."
