Holding a Pretty Wheel: NASCAR’s Perception Problem

Perception is reality.

NASCAR has embedded itself in controversy in recent weeks. On-track and post-race inconsistencies have piled up, and while some calls have been legit based on the rule book, the rulings have not appeared to be consistent.

One area where the sanctioning body has drawn questions recently is the Damaged Vehicle Policy, and specifically allowing drivers to be towed back to pit road for repairs versus to the garage, day over.

At Kansas Speedway a few weeks ago, Josh Berry went for a slide, resulting in flat tires on the No. 4. Berry was picked up by the wrecker and taken to the garage. Berry and his crew had been expecting a tow to their pit, where they could put fresh tires on and make any repairs on the DVP clock.

Except Berry was taken to the garage, and under the rules, his day was over. Berry was livid; his car had little other damage, and he and his team felt they could have easily continued.

Just a week later, when Talladega Superspeedway produced its typical mayhem, the policy was brought back into focus.

After a crash that was by some counts the biggest ever, damaged cars littered the track and frontstretch grass. Some were towed to the garage, and rightfully so. Some were taken to their pits with flats (as the rule states is allowed). NASCAR had thrown a red flag while it was clearing the track, meaning teams who had their cars could not work on them.

But then, before all of the cars had been removed, NASCAR went back to the yellow flag, giving teams who had their cars on pit road the green light to make repairs … while others were waiting to be brought back for the same opportunity. That gave the cars already in the pits a distinct advantage because their cars could be back on track before the others’ countdowns even began. 

Under the rules, they all have the same time allowed to make repairs, but the ones able to start them sooner could get back out before the others even began, giving them valuable track positions.

Drivers argued with safety crews to be brought to the pits with flat tires. Berry, who was collected, questioned why anyone was towed back for flats after he’d been parked the week before.

If nothing else, it was a disorganized mess that made NASCAR look unprepared for something that was basically inevitable.

One week later, the NASCAR Xfinity Series was thrust into the same spotlight. As the field came to the white flag at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Parker Kligerman was maintaining the race lead when Leland Honeyman buried his racecar in a tire barrier. 

On road courses, NASCAR tends to wait a couple of seconds after a spin to see if any cars involved can get going without dropping debris. A full-course yellow takes a long time, and if it can be prevented, NASCAR will do that (which is a good call). 

But it was apparent after two or three seconds that Honeyman wasn’t going anywhere as his car was under a pile of tires. Still, NASCAR waited … and waited … and waited. The caution finally flew (and that was also the right call), but after waiting until Kligerman was inches from taking the white flag, which would have frozen the field and ended the race under yellow (which would have been fine).

Television slowed the video to a frame-by-frame replay to show that the caution light came on when the nose of Kligerman’s No 48 was maybe a yard from the line.

The call cost Kligerman the race as the restart allowed Sam Mayer to start next to him, giving the No. 1 position as the pair approached the infield section of the tack. To say fans were unhappy is an understatement.

NASCAR had two ways to make a better call. Had the yellow been displayed when it first became apparent that Honeyman was stuck, it would have been hard to question the necessity of the call. But we’re talking 15-20 seconds sooner, practically an eternity in racing. 

NASCAR also could have held the flag for another half-second, until Kligerman crossed the line, and then put it out with plenty of time for the field to slow for Honeyman but with the race essentially over. NASCAR has done this before and it’s not a great call, but it would have been preferable to what looked to a lot of fans like NASCAR giving a popular team (Mayer’s car is owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.) the opportunity to win over a smaller team.

On Sunday, Bubba Wallace was given a stop-and-go penalty for cutting a chicane. The rule was that at least two tires had to be in bounds in the chicanes, and Wallace’s were clearly out on the replay. That wasn’t the issue. The problem is that when the broadcast showed the violation, the video clearly showed William Byron, two cars behind Wallace, committing the same violation. Byron might have been closer to the defining line but was absolutely over it. 

Everyone saw it but NASCAR.

What fans see after all of these calls is favoritism toward some teams or drivers.

And those are just the recent calls, and don’t include the disqualification of Alex Bowman after the Cup race on Sunday for an underweight car after there appeared to be video evidence that the car lost some pieces in an incident (Hendrick Motorsports did not appeal, though, so it’s not clear if that was the case).

After suspending drivers in 2022 and 2023 for intentionally wrecking other drivers, NASCAR appeared to change its mind in 2024, issuing fines but not suspensions. There is a difference between this year’s incidents and the ones that drew bigger penalties (all crashes that drew suspensions were cases of hooking the other car in the right rear, which is dangerous and blatant). The 2024 editions have been blatantly obvious but didn’t involve a right-rear hook. Whether that’s the difference maker or not is up for debate; NASCAR is tight-lipped about it.

But what fans see is drivers not being penalized for intentional wrecks after others were given harsh punishments.

After each of these races, NASCAR has faced the media, but only to hand out the excuse du jour. And sure, most of the calls were judgment calls and can be justified as such. Referees in any sport where judgment calls happen can make mistakes. NASCAR could also rightly say it followed the letter of the rules in some cases. 

But what NASCAR should do is own up to making mistakes when it makes one. For example, there is a stipulation in place if a driver doesn’t serve a penalty for cutting a chicane during a road course race: a 30-second time penalty assessed after the race.

NASCAR could have gone a long way toward earning fans’ respect by admitting it initially missed the Byron call and assessing the penalty after the race. Instead, it let it go.

What fans saw was favoritism toward Byron’s team.

At the end of the day, what everyone wants is for the sport to be as good and as fair as it can be. The complaints and negative comments from fans and even team members aren’t just made to bring NASCAR down. They’re about making a sport they love the best it can be.

NASCAR has a path forward in this: transparency and ownership of mistakes.

NASCAR has clarified the DVP rules, but that could have been done weeks ago — and Talladega should have been handled differently, there’s no getting around that. Had NASCAR said afterward, “we messed that up and here’s how and what we’ll do to fix it,” it’s still unfortunate but looks like a mistake rather than purposely giving teams an advantage.

Spelling out exactly why some intentional wrecks drew suspensions and not others, as well as clarifying what will happen going forward, would erase a lot of speculation and questions about favoritism.

When there’s a question about a call in-race such as a restart or running order, throw a caution until it’s resolved correctly via replay. In a case like Byron’s, assess the post-race penalty as advertised.

The bottom line is that what fans see in the moment is everything. Not all of the controversial calls have been wrong. Some have. But they have been handled wrong, and that’s on NASCAR. 

Every call is going to benefit someone at the cost of someone else. The larger teams are perhaps more likely to be involved, or at least to be seen because they have higher visibility. And people are going to see favoritism when their favorite driver is involved. That’s an inherent bias, and NASCAR needs to understand that and counter it with transparency.

Otherwise, fans (and team members, too) are only going to see the calls and the excuses.

And perception is reality.