There will be no more “Hail Melon” moves in NASCAR.
The series released multiple procedural changes Tuesday morning. Among them, officials now have the option of invoking a time penalty for any vehicle deemed using a similar strategy to that of Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville Speedway.
Chastain rode the fence in turns three and four on the last lap of the race, gaining five spots to reach the Championship four in the playoffs. While the move was unexpected and thrilling, NASCAR says it was a risk of safety and will enforce rules already in the NASCAR rule book, specifically rule 10.5.2.6.A, which states: “Safety is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management).
“Therefore, any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an Event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of Competitors, Officials, spectators, or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness. Safety violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
Other procedural updates for 2023 include:
• The elimination of stage cautions on road courses. The races will still include stages, but instead of a mandatory yellow flag, NASCAR will distribute points accordingly at the stage end lap, without interrupting the flow of the race. Standalone NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races will continue to have stage cautions on road courses.
• Detached wheels during races will no longer call for a four-race crew chief suspension. In the event a wheel becomes unattached but stays on pit road, the offending car will be subject to a pass-through penalty. If it occurs under caution, the car will restart at the rear of the field. If the tire does not stay on pit road, it calls for a two-lap penalty and two-race suspension for two crew members.
• Competition officials have also expanded the list of tracks for wet-weather equipment. These tracks were on road courses until 2023, but now include tracks of 1 mile in length or shorter such as: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (for The Clash), Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway (for All-Star weekend), Phoenix Raceway, Richmond Raceway, The Milwaukee Mile (Truck Series) and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (Truck Series). This comes after a successful wet-weather test was held at Martinsville Speedway in the spring of 2021.
• The “choose rule” which determines the restart order has been expanded for the 2023 season to now include superspeedways and dirt tracks.
• The restart zone for the first five events of the season will be increased by 50% in length. Officials say they will assess the situation further after Atlanta.
• NASCAR also adjusted the damaged vehicle policy (DVP), increasing the repair clock to seven minutes for work performed on pit road.
These rule changes take effect when NASCAR starts its 75th season of competition kicks of 8 p.m. ET on February 5 with the Busch Light Clash non-points race at the L.A. Coliseum.
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